Taking Chances
by andersonblaine
Summary: Kurt leaves for New York City with Rachel, and he has to get adjusted to life without his boyfriend in The Big Apple. With college, a job, and his relationships with Blaine and his family to maintain, can he handle it all or had he overestimated himself?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hi! This is a fic that I wrote for Camp NaNoWriMo in June, but I gave up in the middle of writing it. I still haven't finished it, but I'm hoping I can edit what I have written and finish it before school starts in three weeks. I like to think of this first chapter of a bit of a preview, just to see if anyone's really interested and would like to read more. As always, reviews are appreciated, and thank you for reading!**

* * *

"Central Park, Empire State, _Broadway_ – what do you want to do first?" Rachel Berry beamed, quickly apologizing as she bumped into a tired-looking, middle-aged man. Her eyes were fixed on the tourist brochure in her hands. Hiram and Leroy, her two dads, were pulling her luggage along behind them and rushing to catch up with her as she ran to the airport's waiting area.

"Sleep," Kurt Hummel replied with a yawn. It was four thirty in the morning, far too early to be awake. Don't get him wrong; he was thrilled to finally be moving to New York. He just wasn't alert enough to be as enthusiastic as his best friend. He paid little attention to Rachel's chatter and looked over to Blaine, who knew what he was thinking before a word escaped from his mouth. "Coffee?" Kurt nodded and casually slipped away from the crowd of parents and siblings towards the food court. Blaine slipped an arm around Kurt's waist and ordered for both of them at the airport's Starbucks. Kurt reached into his pocket for his wallet, but Blaine waved him off. "One last coffee date," he insisted, blinking back tears and trying not to let his boyfriend see. They had spent the last night at Kurt's house, Blaine eating dinner with the Hudson-Hummels and both of them slipping away to Kurt's bedroom once Burt had dozed off on his chair and Carole had gone to the kitchen to clean up.

They took a seat at one of the metal dining tables. Kurt held his mocha in one hand and kept Blaine's hand in the other over the table. He'd been both excited for and dreading this day for the past year. Ever since he were a young boy, it had been his dream to move to a big city and become a star. Until about a year and a half ago, however, he had never pictured himself having to say goodbye to his boyfriend as well as his father. A stepbrother and stepmother had never been in the picture, either, but he couldn't say he wasn't grateful for them. Also, while he had planned to go to Broadway, those plans had also changed. He didn't get accepted to NYADA like Rachel did. Kurt looked into more universities, and with the help of his father pulling some strings as a congressman, he was accepted to New York University. He was planning to go into fashion, which had always been another passion of his, maybe even before performing. As far as he can remember, he was always interested in what colors and styles were "in" this season. Just a few days after graduation, he and Rachel had driven up to New York City with their parents and had gone apartment hunting. They found one on the second day, small but livable and affordable, and also conveniently placed. It was right in between NYADA and NYU, and also not too far from Central Park, Times Square, and other important landmarks New York City had to offer. Instead of buying new furniture, they saved a lot of money by shipping some of their things from their homes in Lima over to their new apartment. As their graduation gifts, Burt, Carole, Hiram, and Leroy had generously offered to pay their rent for the first six months until they were settled in and found jobs. Most of the other money they had received from family and friends were put aside to pay for groceries and other things they would need once they arrived. As for Kurt's relationship with Blaine, his boyfriend had brought up the idea of early graduation, but Kurt insisted that he stayed in Lima for his senior year. He knew that, although they would be apart, it would be the best year of Blaine's high school life, just like it was for him. This year should be especially exciting at McKinley High, since Blaine would be one of the new leaders of the glee club. He refused to let Blaine take that experience away from himself just so they could be together.

Neither of them spoke for the first few minutes, only holding hands and stealing the occasional glances at each other when they thought the other boy wasn't looking . Eventually their eyes met and stayed locked on each other. They both took in a breath.

"I'm going to miss you so much," Blaine said at the same time Kurt blurted, "I love you." Kurt held out his other hand, which Blaine slipped his own free hand into. They had spent the last night saying everything they wanted to, but that didn't mean they were ready to say goodbye. They never would be, but it still had to happen.

"You first," Kurt said.

"I'm going to miss you," Blaine started again. "A lot. I know I said this last night but I'm saying it again. I can't imagine not seeing you every day in the hallways or in the choir room. It won't be the same."

Kurt took a shaky breath. "I get it. I do. I'm going to miss not being able to kiss you or hold your hand. I'll miss you more than anything or anyone in the world. But I'll be back for Thanksgiving and Christmas and all the other holidays. You know that if I have a free weekend, I'll be on the next train to Ohio in a heartbeat. And even if I can't do that, we're going to Skype every night, right?" Kurt gave a hopeful smile. Blaine nodded, returning it and holding their hands tighter. "The New Directions need you. Just don't try to force them into any a capella or two steps if you want to stay on their good side," he joked. "But really. You'll be great, and we'll be okay. I promise." He felt a tear fall down his cheek and wiped it away. "I love you."

"I love you, too." Blaine squeezed Kurt's hands and stood up, his chair squeaking as he pushed it back. Kurt followed and twined his fingers together with Blaine's. Together, they walked back to the rest of their group with their arms pressing against each other, both refusing to leave as much as a millimeter of space between them.

They returned to the waiting area to see Kurt and Rachel's families crowded around in their seats. Burt, Carole, Rachel, Hiram, Leroy, and Finn, who was Kurt's stepbrother and Rachel's boyfriend, were in two halves of rows; Kurt's parents and Finn were seated behind Rachel and her fathers next to her. They all seemed to be looking at one of the many maps and tourist guides Rachel had found. Kurt was already beginning to feel more awake from the caffeine. He and Blaine joined the two families and looked over Rachel's shoulder.

"See Finn, oh, Blaine, there you are –" Rachel was saying, gesturing for Blaine to come see the map. "Our apartment is right around here. The location is perfect. It was actually one of our main reasons for choosing it. NYADA and NYU are actually only a couple miles away from each other, so it couldn't have worked out better. The apartment is right in the middle of both of them." This was all information Kurt had already told Blaine, but he was still politely listening and replying as if he were hearing it for the first time.

A woman then spoke over the speakers, announcing that their flight will be boarding in ten minutes. Kurt glanced over to Rachel, who was turned towards Finn, and then to Blaine. They both stood up, and Kurt wrapped Blaine in his arms, instantly feeling comforted by the warmth of his body. He pushed away the thought that soon, Blaine wouldn't be this close to him and instead pulled his boyfriend closer. Blaine rested his head on Kurt's shoulder. After a while, they only slightly pulled away, Blaine's arms still wrapped around Kurt's waist and Kurt's arms around Blaine's neck.

"I love you so much," Blaine said quietly, almost whispering.

"I love you, too," Kurt replied in the same tone. They must have said those three words to each other ten times today, but his heart still leapt every time. "I promise, I'll call you as soon as we land and I'll be on Skype tonight and I'll text you in every minute of my free time. I won't let the distance hurt us, I swear. Oh, and I almost forgot..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. With the other hand, he opened Blaine's left palm and slipped the paper inside, curling Blaine's fingers around it and covering them with his own. Blaine flattened the paper in front of him to see that an address was scribbled on it in Kurt's handwriting. "That's what my address will be. Just in case, you know?"

Blaine's lips turned up in a small smile. "Okay. It's only a year, right?" He said in a hopeful voice, knowing it would, in fact, be just one year but still needing to hear it from his boyfriend one more time.

"Right," Kurt assured him. Just the thought of being so far from Blaine for an entire year made him feel as if his heart was being torn out of his chest, but he was trying his hardest to be optimistic for him, so he added, "And then you'll be in New York too, and I'll show you everything. This year is going to be hard for both of us, but I promise you, you won't regret staying in Lima for one more year. You can always call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Yeah." For Kurt's sake, he put on a smile. "Yeah, I know. I'll just have to get used to calling you instead of driving to your house whenever I need to talk about something. But you're right, I know you're right: it will be worth it. So we're going to get through this." At this point, he wasn't sure if he was trying to convince Kurt or himself. "Together."

"Together." Kurt smiled and brought his lips to Blaine's in a soft, sweet kiss. Ignoring the glances and double-takes from the other waiting passengers, Blaine brought his hands to Kurt's face, slowly turning the kiss into something deeper and more passionate. Blaine could feel Kurt's heart beating against his chest, and he didn't doubt that Kurt felt his heart racing at a hundred miles an hour, either. He opened his mouth slightly and Kurt took the opportunity to slip his tongue inside, allowing Blaine to do the same. A soft moan escaped from Kurt's mouth and it was almost as if the rest of the world was melting away. They forgot about everything and everyone else; right now, it was just them, Kurt and Blaine, together in an empty room. All they needed was each other. In short, it was heaven.

They didn't pull away until the woman came over the intercom once more to say that the first section of the plane, where Kurt and Rachel were assigned to sit, would be boarding in two minutes. Kurt broke apart from Blaine to see his father sending anxious glances their way, and Carole patting his arm comfortingly. He thought he saw her say "let them be." The two boys blushed in embarrassment and Kurt walked over to his parents, Blaine awkwardly standing a few feet away, unsure of what to do.

Kurt hugged his father first, and then Carole. "You'll call us as soon as you land?" she asked him, her voice sounding a bit frantic.

"Of course I will. Thank you both so much for everything. You're amazing."

"Don't worry about it, kid," his dad replied. "You deserve it. You've earned it."

Carole added, "Have a safe flight. Be careful in the city!"

"We will. I'll call you when we land and before I go to bed. Seriously, though, I can never thank the two of you and the Berrys enough. Thank you." He hugged them both one last time and willed himself not to cry. For the past decade, it has always been his father and him. Besides Carole, Finn, and the couple of guys who helped him out at the shop, Burt didn't really have anyone. Kurt would miss him so much, and he knew his father felt the same way.

Next, he walked over to Finn, who pulled him into a hug. Kurt whispered into his ear, "Take care of Dad, okay?" His voice cracked as tears formed in his eyes, but he quickly wiped them away. Finn answered, "Yeah, man. Of course," and held out his fist. Kurt laughed and fist bumped him before moving on to thank the Berrymen for all they have done to support him and Rachel, and somehow the two fathers got everyone to join in a group hug. Out of the corner of his eye, Kurt noticed that people were beginning to line up to board the plane. The hug broke apart and he went back to Blaine, holding him in his arms for one last time. "I'm never saying goodbye to you," he said in a shaky voice, and Blaine's heart shattered into pieces. Kurt had said the same six words to Blaine in his sophomore year at Dalton, when Kurt had transferred back to McKinley High after temporarily attending Blaine's school. The only difference was is that instead of being ninety miles apart, there would be six hundred miles between them. It was an eleven hour drive from Lima, Ohio to New York City, and while it was short enough for Blaine to be able to visit on the weekends and be home in time for school on Monday, his parents refused to let him sacrifice schoolwork for his boyfriend. Blaine understood their reasoning, but that didn't make it any easier for him.

Kurt walked over to Rachel, who asked him, "Are you ready for this?"

Kurt nodded and took one last look at his family and boyfriend. He smiled at them and mouthed "I love you" to Blaine, which his boyfriend returned by blowing him a kiss, before turning back to his best friend. They linked their arms together and walked towards the desk to get their tickets stamped. Each step Kurt took without Blaine by his side felt like he was getting stabbed in the chest, but he kept walking, knowing that Blaine wouldn't let him turn back, away from his dreams.

So, with a smile on both of their faces, he and Rachel boarded their airplane to New York City.

* * *

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. It would mean the world to me if you could take the time to leave a review—constructive criticism helps me learn what I have to do to improve as a writer. Thanks again for reading! :)**


	2. Chapter 2

After sending Kurt and Rachel off to New York City, the Berrymen and Hudson-Hummels decided to go out to breakfast. At first, Blaine had opted out, not wanting to intrude, but the parents insisted that he tagged along. They seated themselves at a table and each grabbed a menu. For a while they made small talk, discussing the weather and how much they'll miss their children and the old_ "I can't believe they're going to college, we sure are getting old" _conversation.A waitress came around to take their orders. Finn asked for a tall stack of pancakes, and Blaine settled on a ham and cheese omelet.

"So, Finn, when do you start your community college classes?" Hiram asked.

"In the fall. I'm gonna be working at Burt's shop full-time over the summer to help pay the tuition. I figured I can work on the weekdays and visit Rachel a few weekends." Blaine couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. "Career-wise, though, I'm still not really sure what I want to do."

"And you know what, son?" Leroy said. "There's nothing wrong with that. I know a lot of people like to go straight to university from high school, but y'know, that's not for everyone. Our baby girl has always wanted to be on Broadway, so we fully support her going to NYADA, of course. But sometimes people just don't know what they want to do, and I don't see why people think it's such a bad thing. You're eighteen. Go and live your life first. Because once you're married with kids and a job, let me tell you, any free time you have is gonna go right down the drain."

"Thanks for the lecture, Leroy," Hiram said. "So inspiring."

"Shut up." Leroy nudged his husband playfully. "All I'm saying is, good for you for not rushing into things." He shrugged.

"Thanks Mr. Berry," Finn said. "It means a lot."

"Oh, anytime."

"Blaine, have you thought about what you're going to do yet?" Carole asked. Until now, Blaine had been pretty silent in their conversations, politely nodding or agreeing to their statements when it seemed appropriate. He didn't feel like talking very much. It had only been about half an hour, but he already missed Kurt. It felt like a part of him were missing, and even though he may not like it, now he had to get used to living without it.

He cleared his throat before answering. "Uh, well, I think I might audition for NYADA this year, just to see how it goes, but to be honest I'm not really expecting to get in."

"I think you'd have a pretty good shot at it," Burt said.

"Thanks, Mr. Hummel, but I don't really know. I don't want to get my hopes up. I think everyone kind of underestimated how competitive they really were last year. Anyways, if that doesn't work out, I still want to do something with music or theater. I've sort of been looking into the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. It seems like a great university but it's just as selective as NYADA. I suppose NYU is my safety school. Either way, I just want to be in New York with Kurt."

Carole replied, "That sounds like a good plan, Blaine. Good luck."

"Thank you," he said. Then, dying to change the subject, he added, "Mr. Hummel, how is the tire shop going?"

Burt replied, "Not bad. We did have a bit of an incident the other day, though. You see, one of the guys was doing an oil change..." Blaine exhaled as he launched into the story, relieved to be out of the spotlight again.

* * *

Kurt shifted uncomfortably in his seat between Rachel and the larger woman to his right. The thought that Blaine could have been sitting in the aisle seat if he were just one year older nagged at the back of his mind, but he pushed the thought aside. The arm and leg room in the plane was painfully small, and Rachel, who had gotten the window seat, kept leaning into him to show him a picture or a snippet of information, crushing him even more between the two women.

As the flight attendants began to go over the standard safety procedures, Rachel flipped through yet another one of her tourist magazines. "How many of those do you have?" Kurt whispered to her.

"Seventeen. Some I got online, others in the airport. I've been preparing for this for the last eighteen years, Kurt."

Kurt simply nodded in response, deciding to give Rachel a break for today. He understood her excitement.

"Kurt, look! We can visit where _Funny Girl_ was filmed! Oh my God, we _have_ to go."

"Wait, really? I thought all of the interior locations were closed down."

"It doesn't matter. They're open _now, _and we're _so_ going. See, they have an entire list of movies that were filmed in New York."

Kurt pulled the brochure closer and skimmed over the list to see if he recognized any of the films. One caught his eye: When Harry Met Sally.

"_So it's just like _When Harry Met Sally_...but I get to play Meg Ryan."_

"_Deal...uh, don't they get together in the end?"_

The memory was still crystal-clear in his mind, and he felt a pang of loneliness. Sure, he still had Rachel, who was his best friend, but it felt like his heart was missing. Blaine had stolen it from him the second they met on that staircase, and even back then he knew it was a goner. There was no getting it back from him.

The pilot announced takeoff, and the plane's engine roared. Kurt bucked his seat belt and looked over to Rachel. Finally, everything seemed to be sinking in. "We're doing this."

"What?"

"This is happening. We're going to New York City. We have an apartment. We're going to college. Oh, God."

"It's too late to panic, Kurt."

"I'm not panicking, I'm not. It's just...hitting me."

Rachel patted his hand. "Yes, this is happening. We're moving to the city of our dreams. I know. Calm down. Breathe."

Kurt did as she said as the airplane flew off the runway and into the air. A few minutes after take off, he said, "I already miss Blaine."

"I miss Finn. We'll get through it together, okay?"

"At least Finn can visit you on the weekends." When he saw the slightly hurt expression on Rachel's face, he regretted what he had said. "I'm sorry, that sounded bitter. Which I kind of am, to be honest, but..." He couldn't find the right words. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that."

"It's all right, honey. I get it. We'll figure something out. I won't let us go three months in New York without one double date in the finest restaurant Manhattan has to offer."

He smiled at the thought of taking Blaine out to dinner on a date in New York City – as if he hadn't been planning that out in his head for months now: a romantic candlelight dinner after a long day of showing Blaine what made New York special: Broadway, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Hall...he could go on forever. One day, he promised to himself, he would show Blaine all of it.

* * *

Just over an hour later, they landed in New York, stomachs grumbling. Kurt pulled out his cell phone to call his parents and Blaine and asked, "Do you want to grab something to eat? I'm starving." He was already walking towards the food court; everything looked appetizing to him right now – hell, he would even settle for a Big Mac. But Rachel grabbed his forearm and steered him in the opposite direction. "Nuh-uh. No way are we having our first meal in New York at some McDonald's in an airport. If I wanted to eat McDonald's, I would have stayed in Lima. You know what we're having for breakfast?"

"What?"

"Pizza. New York style."

"It's seven-thirty in the morning, Rachel."

"I'm fully aware, and I'm not taking 'no' for an answer. Now come on."

Kurt just shook his head, trying his hardest to seem disgusted about the fact that he'll be eating a greasy, thousand calorie slice of pizza for_ breakfast._

They retrieved their luggage and walked outside the airport to be greeted with a rush of stifling hot August air. "I thought you said it was going to be in the seventies today," Rachel said.

"That's what my phone said," Kurt replied, unsticking his shirt from his skin. "Apparently, it was wrong. Christ, it has to be at least ninety five degrees. I'm going to look like a tomato by the end of the day."

Rachel took a drink of water from the bottle she had carried onto the plane. "It'll be cooler in our apartment, hopefully." As she left to attempt to hail a cab, Kurt pressed the number 3 on his phone to speed dial Blaine's number. It only rang once before he answered. "Hello?"

The sound of his boyfriend's voice instantly cheered him up. "Hey! We just landed."

"Ah, so how does it feel, being in New York?"

"Well, the air quality is definitely worse and it feels like it's three hundred degrees outside and I'm burning to a crisp as I speak, but other than that it feels great."

Blaine let out a quiet laugh. "I'm so happy for you. I wish I could be there."

"I wish you could be here, too. I already miss you."

"I miss you, too. I'm at the Lima Bean with Artie. Here, say hi." Blaine's voice faded for a moment, and he heard Artie shout "Hi, Kurt!" from across their table in the cafe. Kurt greeted him and Blaine explained that he'll be spending the night at Tina's to keep her company since Mike left for Chicago a few days ago.

"Aw, that's sweet. Have fun," Kurt said. "Tell Tina I say hi, too."

"I will. I'll talk to you on Skype tonight, okay? How does six o' clock sound? It'll be right before I leave for Tina's, so it'll be perfect."

"It's a date." Kurt smiled. "I'll see you later, then."

"Okay. I love you."

"Love you, too." He waited for Blaine to hang up first, and then turned around to see Rachel flailing her arms around in the hopes of attracting a cab driver. He looked at his best friend yelling and wildly waving her arms and couldn't help but laugh. He quickly called his dad to inform him that they had landed safely and went to help her. It turned out, it wasn't Rachel that was the problem in hailing a cab. New York cab drivers are just assholes. "Oh, come on!" Kurt shouted in exasperation as one finally pulled up in front of them, and then another man jumped in the backseat before either of them could move a muscle.

Fifteen minutes later, they managed to find a rather nice man who helped them load their luggage into the car's trunk and was willing to drive them to the train station. Rachel and Kurt had decided to have a strict "no subway or taxi" rule in order to save money (today was obviously an exception) after Kurt had read that the average New Yorker spends over two thousand dollars a year on public transportation. They figured buying bikes and biking everywhere would be much cheaper, and their apartment isn't too far away from most of the major attractions of New York City. (Not to mention that they could use the exercise.)

The subway ride was short, and before they knew it they were standing in front of their new home. The apartment building was ten stories tall; Kurt and Rachel resided on the eighth floor. It was brick red, with a short concrete staircase leading up to the lobby door. The lobby itself wasn't much more than three couches and a coffee table with an assortment of outdated magazines spread across it. From there, a narrow hallway led to the elevator and the parking lot. They squeezed all of their bags and suitcases into the elevator and prayed that no one else joined them as there was barely any room left.

They unlocked the door and stepped into apartment 812, which, to their joy, was air conditioned. It was made up of four basic rooms; Kurt and Rachel's bedrooms were right next to each other, and the doors of both led straight to the kitchen and living area, which were both in the apartment's main room. The kitchen part of the room was on the right side, with wooden cabinets, dark marble counter tops, and a stainless steel oven and fridge. A few feet to the left was an island that Kurt and Rachel had decided would make an excellent buffet table if they ever needed one. Any other furniture had been taken with the previous owners. The other side of the room would be the living room; a hole in the wall made it obvious that a TV previously hung there. They would have to cover it up with a painting for the time being. A door on the opposite side of the room lead to the bathroom, and a sliding glass door on the left wall led to a small balcony. There was just enough room on it for a table and two chairs. It didn't have much of a view; all there was to see was a parking lot and the next apartment building. Still, they had always dreamed of sitting on their balcony and drinking coffee in the morning, and view or no view, they were going to do it.

Kurt threw his suitcases onto the hardwood floor and sat on one of them. "When are the movers coming?"

Rachel started, "Tomo—" and then stopped. "Oh, no."

"What?"

"I'm an idiot. I'm so stupid."

"Rachel, what is it?"

"I scheduled the movers for tomorrow. I don't know why I did it, it was, like, forever ago." She buried her head in her hands, embarrassed by her mistake and beginning to feel stressed. "What are we going to do?"

"This hardwood floor seems nice and cozy..."

"This isn't funny, Kurt! Where are we supposed to sleep tonight? And don't you dare suggest finding a hotel. This is our first night in New York, and we are spending it in our apartment, damn it!"

"Okay, three things. One, calm down. Two, I'm pretty sure you just answered your own question. Three, what is with you and all of your "first day in New York" things? I don't get it."

"I just want today to be a good day. All I want is somewhere to sleep tonight, is that too much to ask?"

"Well, New York City _is_ the city that never sleeps..."

"Kurt. Seriously."

"Oh, fine. I think I might have an idea. It may not be comfortable, and it our backs will probably be killing us tomorrow morning, but beggars can't be choosers, right?"

"I'm listening."

* * *

Forty five minutes later, Kurt and Rachel found themselves walking back down their street from the convenience store three blocks away. They held pillows under their arms and an assortment of comforters and blankets were thrown over their shoulders, the latter definitely not helping against the heat. They both apologized as they bumped into pedestrians and tried not to let their items fall onto the sidewalk to be trampled by other citizens.

"Can you imagine how insane we probably look to everyone else?" Rachel said.

"How insane we _look? _Rach, we're far past that. We_ are _insane. We crossed that line and never looked back."

Rachel threw her head back in laughter, giving her even stranger looks from everyone else. "You're right," she said to Kurt. "You are completely right."

"Look at it this way," Kurt said. "It sure will make a good story when we tell our kids about our first day in the Big Apple."

"Oh, yeah. Wait 'til Finn and Blaine hear this one."

"Oh! I can't believe I almost forgot – I have to Skype with him tonight! What time is it?"

Rachel checked her watch and let out a noise that was something between a sigh and a chuckle. "We are actually the biggest idiots alive. It's not even nine o' clock in the morning. And here we are, walking with a crapload of blankets and pillows for us to sleep on tonight...in twelve hours." They walked up the steps to their building and walked inside.

As the elevator doors closed, Kurt said, "I'm not going to disagree with you on the idiot part, but this means we have twelve hours to explore the city. Are you in or are you in?" The huge grin that spread across Rachel's face answered his question.

So they threw their "beds" on top of their suitcases next to the door and immediately left again. Back outside, they caught a bus to take them to Central Park (again breaking the "no public transportation" rule, but that can start tomorrow, right?). They walked all through the park, admiring the perfect-looking trees and everything else that was perfect about Central Park. As Rachel talked his ear off, Kurt texted Blaine about where they were, what they were doing, how Blaine was doing, and how much he missed him. He and Rachel each bought lemonades to help cool them off, and, as planned, ate the state's classic pizza for breakfast. While Rachel thought it was one of the best things she had ever tasted, Kurt didn't think it was all it was cracked up to be. "There's just no excuse to have_ that_ much grease on a slice of pizza," he said, and Rachel replied, "who cares about the grease? You can easily burn off those extra calories with all the walking you do around here. Come on, it's delicious!" Kurt shook his head, still unconvinced.

The walk from Central Park to Times Square was almost deadly, but they had cut down on transportation costs.

"I'm already hungry again," Rachel said.

"It's the walking. Can we find a hot dog stand or something?" Kurt complained. "I am not eating that pizza again."

"We're going to end up eating so much here. Aren't we supposed to fight the Freshman Fifteen and not invite it? By the time the year's over, we'll have turned it into the Freshman Fifty."

"No way. We are not letting that happen. Besides, we can't afford to keep eating out. We'll have to go grocery shopping eventually."

"Yeah, yeah," Rachel replied, knowing what'll happen: they'll keep promising to go grocery shopping but never actually do it.

"Our parents will be pissed if we blow all of our graduation money on food within the first month of living here."

"True. My dads already gave me the 'importance of saving money' lecture. It was literally the most boring thing I've ever listened to. If I have to hear it again, you're coming with me."

"Which is why we need to save our money."

"Right. Okay, fine. No eating out. We can go grocery shopping tomorrow. We should start job hunting, too."

"Can't we have one day in the city where we don't have to worry about that?"

"Yes, we can, and that day is today."

"Smart ass."

"You love me."

* * *

They walked all around Times Square, eating lunch (another slice of pizza for Rachel, fries and a strawberry-banana smoothie for Kurt) on the same red steps they ate on in their junior year of high school. They did a lot of window shopping, but miraculously refrained from actually buying anything. By the time they returned home at four-thirty in the afternoon, their legs felt like Jell-O and, as expected, Kurt's skin was a bright shade of red ("See? It would just be embarrassing to go to a job interview looking like _this,_" was his new excuse.). He was exhausted, but still opened up his laptop ten minutes before six o' clock, sitting on top of his makeshift bed. In the next room, he knew that Rachel was doing the same for Finn. His heart skipped a beat when he opened Skype to see the green "online" symbol next to Blaine's picture. A second later, his computer sang and a black bubble appeared stating that "Blaine Anderson is calling you." He clicked the button to video chat and his heart might as well have been across the room, because it sure as hell wasn't beating in his chest. The moment he saw Blaine he wished he could be with him and kiss him and hold him. He was dressed in his pajamas, a Captain America shirt and sweatpants, but his hair was still gelled.

"Hey, you," Blaine said with a grin, and Kurt still struggled for words.

"I—uh—hey."

"You okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm just...I'm really happy to see you."

"Me, too. Today's been so hard. I keep...looking over next to me, but you're not there and it's just...hard."

"I've been doing the same thing, actually. You have no idea how much I miss you."

"I know, me too. But enough with the sappy love stuff. How's New York?"

Kurt's spirits immediately lifted a bit. He smiled at the camera. "It's even better than what I expected. I love it so much. Oh God, but wait, before I tell you anything else I have the _best_ story to tell you—" and he launched into the recounting of what Rachel had named The Bed Incident.

By the time he was done, Blaine was cracking up. "I can't believe you did that. I'm just picturing you two walking down the street in ninety degree weather with pillows and blankets thrown all over you. You must have looked crazy—even for New Yorkers."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure our neighbors already hate us for all the noise we made, and now I bet they literally think we've lost our minds. And let me tell you something else—New York Pizza? Not all it's cracked up to be."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Well, Rachel loves it, but in my opinion it's just...gross. There's not even one particular thing that makes it bad, it's just all-around disgusting."

"That sounds a little harsh."

"It's pizza, Blaine."

"Maybe you should get to know the pizza before you judge it." He smirked.

"Maybe one day I'll try again and see if my feelings are any different. But I can pretty much guarantee you that New York Pizza sucks." They both laughed, and Kurt added, "You'll see when you visit."

"Oh! About that," Blaine said. "I was talking to Finn and your parents, and we were thinking that maybe we could visit in a few weeks, right before my senior year and Finn's community college classes

start?"

"Yes! Of course! We would love that."

"Great. I'll tell them you said it's okay."

"And how was your day?"

"What?"

"It is not all about me, Blaine Anderson. How was your day in Ohio?"

"Oh, it was okay. After you guys boarded, I had breakfast with Hiram and Leroy and your parents, then I went out for coffee with Artie when I got home, then Brittany called me asking if I could help stage an intervention for her cat, which I'm still trying to understand. Then Tina, Artie, Sam, Rory, Sugar, Brittany, and me saw a movie, and since then I've just been wallowing waiting for six o'clock to come around."

"How are the other glee clubbers?"

"They're all doing well. Today we all started planning for the school year, and it's going to be awesome, but I don't want to tell you anything because I'm afraid some of it might not work in the end. But trust me, you'd love it if you were there."

"I wish I could be. It sounds like it'll be amazing. You better tell me everything later."

"Oh, I will. You'll see. We're going to give the New Directions' Class of 2012 a run for it's money."

"Ooh, don't get too cocky, Anderson. We're pretty tough to beat; we had one Kurt Hummel on our side," Kurt joked. Blaine laughed and answered, "You're right. That guy's pretty talented; I'm not sure he can be replaced. They had that Rachel Berry girl too, and I hear she was pretty good..."

"What about me?" Rachel peeked in the room as she walked from her bedroom to the kitchen.

"We were just talking about how amazingly talented you are."

Rachel blushed. "Well, thank you. I appreciate your compliments." She rushed off to the kitchen, and there was a knock on the door. Confused, Kurt asked himself, "who is that?" out loud. He heard Rachel's footsteps, the sound of the door opening, and Rachel greeting the visitor.

"I better go see what that's all about," Kurt said."I'll text you in the morning?"

"Sure," Blaine said. "I love you."

"I love you, too. Have fun with Tina. Good night." Kurt exited the call and stood up. His sunburn made every move feel like his body was on fire, but he powered through it and walked to the kitchen to see a man and woman, maybe in their late twenties, in the doorway.

"Kurt, these are our neighbors!" Rachel said, and he outstretched his hand to greet them. The woman shook it first. She was short with blonde hair. "Hi, I'm Caitlyn. It's nice to meet you." Next, he shook the man's hand. He was taller with short brown hair and introduced himself as Rob.

"I'm Kurt," he said, and when Caitlyn placed a plate of chocolate chip cookies into Rachel's hands, he added, "Thank you. We actually have dinner now!" The couple laughed at the joke and Rachel set the cookies on the counter. "So how long have you two been living here?"

"Two years," Caitlyn replied. "I'm from Pennsylvania, but Rob was born here." Kurt noticed a wedding band on her left hand's ring finger.

"That's nice," Rachel said. "We're both from Ohio. We went to high school together."

"Oh, yeah, this place is a big change from an environment like that. Trust me, I know from experience."

"That's kind of what we expected, so we decided to move in about a month before our classes start."

"Where are you going to college?" Rob asked.

"I'm going to NYU for fashion, and Rachel was accepted into the New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts."

"Really? That's impressive. I'm definitely not a singer, but I've heard that's a really selective university," Caitlyn said.

"Trust me, she fought hard for her slot," Kurt said. "She wouldn't quit stalking the admissions woman until she was accepted."

Rachel blushed. "Well, I'm just hoping the school will see it as determination and not just being obnoxious. I want to make a good first impression."

"Good luck to both of you," Rob said. "I hope you enjoy your college years. They sure do go by fast."

They both thanked him. "Oh, one question," Kurt inquired. "My family's visiting in two weeks—"

"They are?!" Rachel interrupted.

"Blaine just told me. Anyways, do you know of any hotels around here? We don't have enough beds for everyone, so my parents are going to have to stay somewhere else. Well, we have a roll-out bed with the couch, but it's like lying on a bed of nails."

"You said it's in two weeks?" Caitlyn asked, and Kurt nodded. "Rob and I are going to visit a friend that weekend. We can let them stay in our place, can't we?" She looked up to her husband, who answered, "Sure. I don't see why not."

"Seriously?" Kurt said in disbelief. These people were way too nice compared to the other New Yorkers they had come across. Kurt was almost suspicious. Then again, Caitlyn wasn't from New York.

Caitlyn nodded. "Sure. Just stop by for the key on that Friday."

"Oh, wow. Thank you _so_ much! That is so nice of you, I don't know what to say."

"It's no problem. It's not like we're going to be using that place, we might as well let you guys use it for a few days."

Rachel told them, "I'd offer you guys coffee or something, but we're short of a coffee maker. Or any kind of food besides cookies."

"That's okay, we should get going anyways," Caitlyn said. "It was so great meeting you two. We'll see you around?"

"Definitely," Kurt said. "Thank you so much for everything!" The neighbors left, and Kurt closed the door. "That was really nice of them," Rachel commented.

"I know. I was almost suspicious for a minute, but what's the worst that can happen? And don't forget that they brought us cookies." Kurt took a bite out of one. "Anyone who comes to our house bearing dessert—oh my God, these are delicious—is an instant friend. There's no doubt about it."

"Good point," Rachel said. "Maybe we can invite them over for dinner once we get some real food around here."

"Eventually. Right now, though, I'm tired and in pain and all I want to do is sleep, so good night." He shuffled back into his room and made a quick call to his parents, repeating the story of the so-called "Bed Incident" and promising to tell them more tomorrow because he was exhausted. As soon as he hung up the phone, he collapsed right onto his makeshift bed.

* * *

**A/N: Thank you for reading! It would make my day if you could take the time to leave a review and tell me what you think of the story so far. The third chapter should be up in a few days!**


	3. Chapter 3

"And so I told him, 'there is no way you are spending another year here just for me when you could be at a dance school living your dream.' I was not going to let him do that, you know? So I basically shoved him out the door. I kind of feel bad now, but he'll thank me later," Tina stated. Blaine and she were on her living room couch, flipping through TV channels but not really looking at any of them.

"Kurt was kind of like that, too, but not so...dramatic," Blaine said. "It must be some pre-college jittery thing."

"Have you talked to Kurt since this morning?"

"He called me once he landed, and we texted a bit, and we Skyped right before I came over here."

"Aww. You two are so sweet. Mike just called me once. I don't know if he's mad at me, or..."

"It's hard adjusting to a new town, though, especially moving from Lima to a big city. Just give him time to get used to it. You two have been together longer than Kurt and I have. You'll get through it."

"Thanks." In the next room, the oven timer went off. "There's the pizza. I'll go get it." Tina jumped off the couch and Blaine grabbed the remote to look through the show guide. When he reached the movie channels, he stopped when he saw one title: _When Harry Met Sally._ He hit the view button and watched the scene. It didn't take long for his thoughts to turn from Sally to Kurt and Harry to himself, the two of them having coffee together in New York City (although the circumstances would be much different, of course). He would be seeing Kurt again in less than a month. Surely he could survive that long, right? If not, how was he going to make it through his senior year?

Just then, Tina came back, juggling two plates of pizza and two cans of soda. She looked at the television and frowned. "Oh, no," she said, and, while handing Blaine's plate and Coke to him, grabbed the remote out of his hand and changed the channel.

"What?"

"The purpose of tonight was to take our minds off of our boyfriends."

"We were just talking about Kurt and Mike before you went for the pizza, and how do you know about When Harry Met Sally?"

"Even before you two started dating, Kurt told me everything that happened between you. And the pity party ends now for both of us. There are other things to think and talk about besides Kurt and Mike." She nodded in determination, but it looked as if she were still trying to convince herself.

"...Alrighty, then." Blaine opened his can of soda and took a drink from it. Searching for a new topic, he asked, "What classes are you taking next year?"

"Let me see if I can remember. I have Pre-calc, English, AP Biology, Economics, French, and Art History. I wasn't sure about the biology class, but my mom said I needed more AP classes, so there you go. What's your schedule?"

"Pre-calc, English, U.S. Government, AP Music Theory, Spanish, and Forensic Science."

"Oh, I hope we're put in the same classes. If you have Mrs. Garfield for U.S. Gov, though, you should start preparing yourself now. You're in for one hell of a class, and not in a good way."

"Thanks, Tina. I can't wait."

"Sorry. At least you'll be prepared."

Blaine just smiled and shook his head. Oh, well. It's only one class, and he only had one year of high school left. What's the worst that could happen?

He and Tina spent the rest of the night watching movies that_ didn't _remind them of their boyfriends, eating more pizza, and discussing the books they had recently read. It was a great distraction, and Blaine was grateful for Tina and his other friends in the New Directions for helping him deal with the distance between him and Kurt (and not letting him whine about it too much).

* * *

The next morning, Tina woke up before him, and he found her and her parents downstairs preparing breakfast. That was when Blaine remembered: it was Sunday, the day the Hudson-Hummels always had breakfast together...except Kurt wouldn't be there. He wondered if he was still invited. Tina's mother invited him to stay for breakfast, but he insisted that he should go visit Kurt's family.

It was about a ten minute drive from Tina's house to Kurt's, and he spent the time wondering what Kurt was doing right now, if he was awake yet, if he should call him. On the latter question, he decided that he should try, since it was already eight o' clock in the morning and he knew Kurt had gone to bed early the night before. After a few rings, his boyfriend picked up on the other line.

"Blaine?"

"Good morning. I hope I didn't wake you up."

"Good morning to you, too. Don't worry, I've been up since four, probably because I went to bed at six. But I have good news: the nearest coffee shop is only a block away. You know how I said The Lima Bean has the best coffee I've ever tasted? I take it all back. This place is like, the _god _of coffee shops."

"I'm glad to hear that. I can only imagine what would happen if you couldn't find a cafe nearby."

"I would have to reconsider my moving to the East Village. It'd change my entire perspective on the place," he joked.

"I can only imagine," Blaine replied. "So what are you doing today?"

"Well, right now I'm shopping on Fifth Avenue with Rachel—we're in the Prada store, she's trying on this amazing dress—and then the movers are coming, and then we're probably going to be rearranging furniture all day."

"Oh, good, 'cause I have a present for you. I'll ship it out today."

"What do you mean? What for?"

"To celebrate your moving to New York, silly."

"You didn't have to get me anything."

"Too bad, I threw away the receipt so I can't return it," he said, as if he _would_ return it had he kept the receipt. "Anyways, I'm parked outside your place—"

"_Wait, what?!"_

"I—I mean outside your_ family's_ place—sorry—because it's Sunday and they would still want me to come for breakfast, right?"

He heard Kurt chuckle on the other end of the line, the same laugh he always used whenever Blaine said or did something ridiculous, either by accident or on purpose. "Seriously? Of course they would. They would probably be more worried if you _didn't_ show up. My parents love you. Tell them I'll call them later today."

"Right. Okay. I just needed to make sure. I didn't want to, like, make things awkward or something."

"You won't. If for some reason you do, I give you permission to blame it on me."

"Good. Will do. Love you."

"Love you, too."

Blaine hung up and got out of the car. When he got to the door, he wasn't sure what to do. Normally, he would just walk right in, but would that be weird now? Just to be safe, he rang the doorbell, and within a few seconds Carole opened the door. "Blaine, honey," she said, hugging him, "you know you can just walk right in, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Blaine replied. "I just wasn't sure if...because of Kurt..."

"Nonsense. You're always welcome here. Just because Kurt's gone doesn't mean we're going to let you become a stranger, okay?" Blaine nodded, and he couldn't help but smile from Carole's kindness. He followed her inside, where he was greeted with the familiar smell of eggs and bacon cooking on the stove. "I better go check on that," she said. "Now that Kurt's moved out, no one else in the house actually knows how to cook besides me. That's probably taking longer to get used to than anything." They both laughed.

He walked into the kitchen and said good morning to Burt and Finn, and to Blaine's pleasure, neither of them looked surprised to see him. He looked at the table to see that there were four sets of silverware set up: Burt, Carole, Finn, and himself. It was sweet to see that he was still welcome here—and that they actually _expected_ to show up to breakfast on Sundays. While Carole finished cooking the meal, he talked with Finn and Burt about baseball and which teams they think will make it to the World Series this year.

When they all sat down to eat, everyone noticed the empty seat next to Blaine, and Blaine caught Burt sneaking glances at it when no one else was looking. A few times Blaine reached under the table to hold Kurt's hand, but he was only met with empty space. While they ate, they talked about college, high school, sports (again), upcoming trips to the beach, and more.

"Hey, Blaine," Burt said, swallowing a mouthful of eggs, "do you think you could teach me how to use that Scope thing you and Kurt are using? That video thing?"

"What—oh, Skype?" Blaine asked, and Burt nodded. "Sure, Mr. Hummel. Kurt would love that. I'll help you set it up and figure it out after breakfast. It's pretty simple once you get the hang of it."

When everyone was done eating, Blaine insisted on helping Carole clean the dishes while Skype was installing on the computer.

"So have you talked to Kurt since the morning?" she asked.

"Yeah, we video chatted last night, and I called him right before I walked in here. He said for me to tell you that he'll call later today."

"Aw, thanks sweetie. I'm really glad you two decided to do the long distance thing. I see the way you look at each other. You're happy."

"Thank you." Kurt's parents' enthusiasm when it comes to his and Kurt's relationship was one of the things that Blaine loved the most about them. While Blaine's parents accepted him and liked Kurt, they just didn't have the same exciting attitude about them as the Hudson-Hummels did. "It means a lot. I just hate not being able to be with him. I try to keep my mind off of it, but it's impossible."

"Well, I can't say I've ever been in your position, but I know you'll get through it. It'll work out in the end, and next year we'll have a car full with me, Burt, Hiram, Leroy, and _your_ parents."

"Thanks, Mrs. Hummel."

In the next room, Burt shouted, "Uh, Blaine? I think it's done; the bar is all green, what does that mean?"

Carole smirked. "You're welcome. I'll get the rest of the dishes; you go help Burt. He's completely clueless with it comes to technology." Blaine smiled at her and set the rag he was holding on the counter. Filled with a new sense of hope and optimism, he walked into the living room to help Burt.

* * *

_Five Hours Earlier_

* * *

Kurt woke up at four in the morning with a horrible backache and an even worse sunburn. When he tried to rise from the blanket he had thrown on the cold, hard wooden floor the evening before it literally felt like somebody were stabbing him in the back. Once he managed to get up, he looked down and remembered the painfully noticeable sunburn he had gotten yesterday. His face, forearms and calves were beet red, while the rest of his body was as white as a sheet of paper, as usual. He wanted to call Blaine, but quickly remembered how early it was. Out of his bedroom window, he could see the sun just beginning to rise. He took a moment to appreciate the beauty of it while he stretched.

He got dressed and went to the kitchen to see Rachel, also already awake, standing by the counter with a cup of coffee. She pushed another one in his direction when she saw him. "Mocha, skim milk?"

"Oh, God bless you." Kurt took the paper cup and drank from it, not caring how hot it was. His body slowly began to warm in the cold apartment. Rachel said, "I found this cute coffee place just a block away. It's open twenty-four seven, and the coffee is delicious." She seemed to be speaking even faster and more energetic than usual. "It's like, my new favorite thing about living here, the fact that there's one of America's best coffee shops a block away from me. It's amazing, isn't it?" _The caffeine is certainly kicking in to her system,_ Kurt thought.

"It definitely ought to come in handy when we start college. We better not get used to sleeping this much. When did you wake up?" he asked Rachel.

"A little after three." She finished her coffee and threw it in the garbage can. "I don't remember the last time I got more than eight hours of sleep."

"Neither can I. It feels weird." He leaned against the refrigerator. "What time are the movers coming?"

"They said they would be here by ten. The guy I talked to was kind of an asshole, though, so I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up coming late."

"Right. Well, what are we going to do until then?"

"I came up with a plan. After you finish your coffee, we're going to find some kind of store where we can buy bikes for ourselves, and don't give me that look because we agreed that we weren't going to keep riding the subway. So then we're going to ride out bikes over to Fifth Avenue, where we'll go out to breakfast at—wait for it—Tiffany's, for old time's sake. Then, of course, we're going to go shopping."

"Rachel, we talked about this yesterday. We need to sa—"

"Save our money, blah blah blah. I know, I know. However, what you don't know is that I've been saving my money for a year now specifically for the purpose of spending it on Fifth Avenue, because that's basically on my bucket list. And you're lucky, because I just so happened to start saving it right after we agreed to come to New York together, so I may have put a portion of it aside for you."

"Are you serious?"

"Uh-huh!" She replied cheerfully.

"Oh my God, Rachel, thank you so much! Imagine all of the stores they have there—oh my God, there's Versace and Gucci and...you're an angel. I'm speechless. How am I supposed to thank you?"

"You can buy me breakfast." She downed the rest of her drink. "You're welcome. I call the shower first. We'll leave at five-thirty."

* * *

By five-twenty A.M. they were out the door, and by six-thirty they were biking to Fifth Avenue, hoping Rachel's GPS on her phone was a reliable source for directions. Luckily, there weren't as many other bikers at five o' clock in the morning, so it was relatively easy for them to stay on the path without worrying about swerving out of the way for faster riders or almost hitting cars that were parked or stuck in traffic. All in all, it was a smooth trip, and they got there in about twenty minutes.

They found a place to get their breakfast to go, and after walking a few blocks, they were standing in front of Tiffany and Co.. Rachel said, "Can you believe that a little over a year ago we'd just started making our plans to move here? It seems like it was forever ago."

"I know," Kurt agreed. "And now we've graduated high school, and in a few weeks we'll be going to university. Ugh, I feel so old."

"Me too. Look at us. We've moved out and we're living on our own in New York City."

"I never thought it would happen so soon," Kurt said. "High school really did fly by."

"Speaking of McKinley, how are things with you and Blaine?"

Kurt thought about his response before speaking. "The same, I guess. I mean, like, when we talked last night it just felt like any other conversation between us, you know? Almost like we were still in the same room. But of course, the distance sucks. You know what I mean. I try to keep myself busy so I don't have to think about it, but it's useless. I can't keep him off of my mind."

"I get it. It's the same way with Finn. I'm confident that the distance won't hurt us, but I just wish I could be with him. It's only been twenty four hours. How are we supposed to survive an entire year?"

"Funny, I was asking myself that same question about twenty four hours ago."

They spent the rest of their meal in silence and then began to walk down the street. The next three hours were spent running in and out of stores, trying on suits and dresses and blouses and vests despite the fact that they couldn't afford them. Even with Rachel's generous gift, most of the stores were still too expensive for them. In the end, Rachel walked away with a silver bracelet from Tiffany's and Kurt with a brown messenger bag from Cole Haan. While Rachel was trying on a beautiful yet terribly overpriced Prada dress, Blaine had called Kurt to tell him that he was going to his parents' house for Sunday breakfast, just like he did every week. Kurt couldn't help but smile. He knew that his parents considered Blaine as a part of the family, regardless of whether Kurt was present.

It was another hot day, and so the bike home was brutal. Just as they were riding into the garage, the movers' truck pulled up in front of the building, surprisingly right on time. Kurt and Rachel guided them to their apartment, and the next hour and half was spent hauling boxes up to the eighth floor and trying to decide which way the bed should face or whether they should have the couches face the kitchen or not and which way the television should face to avoid a glare from the balcony door. While the movers tackled the bigger pieces of furniture, such as bookcases and couches, Rachel and Kurt carried boxes of pictures, mugs, books, and other items from their homes back in Lima. Eventually, everything was moved in, although maybe not in the right place. They still needed rugs and other accessories to complete their home and their bedframes had to be put back together, but soon enough it would be finished. Perhaps best of all, they finally had beds—or at least mattresses for tonight. Somehow they had to put their bedframes back together, which meant they had to buy tools, which meant they had to spend more money, which meant that soon they would be broke, which meant that they really needed to start job hunting.

Kurt mentioned this all to Rachel, and together they came up with a plan for the next two days. Today, they had to reassemble their bedframes and get at least some of their furniture in the right place. They also had to go grocery shopping tonight, because they have learned that eating out in New York is _way_ more expensive then Breadstix. Tomorrow, they had to start looking for jobs and organizing all of the items that were lying around. Maybe they could even cook for dinner.

They agreed on this plan, and after a quick stop at Home Depot, they went to work on assembling the bedframes. Rachel quickly realized she couldn't assemble hers on her own, and so Kurt helped her before she assisted him in putting together his own bed. Considering the only instructions they had were from the internet, they figured taking approximately two hours to finish them wasn't too bad. After a quick break, they located a small market a few miles away. They walked over to it and found that it was cheap and sold fresh, organic food, which pleased both of them. They strolled through the entire store, putting different fruits, vegetables, and meats into their cart, and were happy when they went to checkout and saw that the total price was much lower than the amount they had brought to spend. While they were there, they both grabbed a job application from the pile at the cash register. "One application down, only about fifty more to go," Rachel said as they lugged the grocery bags back to the apartment.

"At least we were a lot more productive than we thought we were going to be today," Kurt replied. "And we did go shopping this morning. Today wasn't too bad after all, although I am getting tired from all this walking and biking and hauling boxes around for two hours."

"And we still have to sort out all of the glasses and silverware, and find somewhere to put all of the food that can't be refrigerated. Between cooking space and storage, we don't have a lot of counter space."

"That's because we were still living in a fantasy world when we decided to buy this place and we thought that we could eat out every night."

"Oh, the good ol' days, about eight months ago when we were silly, naïve teenagers." Rachel teased.

"Seriously, though. Remember how easy we thought it would be? We had no idea what we were in for." Kurt fumbled for his keys, juggling three paper grocery bags in one arm while he dug in his pocket with the other. He found them and opened the door.

"You're right," Rachel said. "I know we've only been here for a day, but New York is like a wake up call. I can't say I'd rather be back in Lima, though."

They rushed into the elevator just as the doors were closing. A young man was also inside, a panting golden retriever at his side. Kurt and Rachel smiled at him in greeting and the three of them ascended the building. After the man got off on the fourth floor, Rachel leaned against the back wall of the elevator. "I am so done with exercise for today."

"Me too," Kurt replied. They got off the elevator and walked into their apartment, setting the bags on the counter island. He pulled a stool up to the counter and took a seat. He never thought he'd be grateful for a chair, but it sure was nice to finally have somewhere to sit.

For the rest of the day, they moved furniture around, filled bookshelves, separated mugs from glasses, and more. It was around seven o' clock when they finished. After Rachel fell asleep on the couch, Kurt slipped away to his laptop and logged into Skype, where Blaine was already online. He requested to video chat with him and waited as Skype's ringtone filled the silent air. It couldn't have taken more than fifteen seconds for Blaine to answer, but it felt like an eternity to Kurt. Just like last time, when his face appeared on his screen, his heart skipped a beat. Being so far away from his boyfriend made his heart ache, like there was something vital missing from him. And there was. Without Blaine, he didn't know how to function. The distance wasn't the end of the world, but if, God forbid, something were to happen to Blaine, it would kill him. It may be a strange simile, but Blaine was like a lung or an arm or an eye; it was painfully noticeable when he was gone, and Kurt found it extremely difficult to live without him. He'd been trying to distract himself in the hopes of numbing the pain of Blaine's absence; he kept himself busy with trying to keep the apartment in order or thinking of all the other things that had to done. However, the truth was that none of it worked. He still found himself looking around his bedroom for Blaine or leaning over to where he would be to whisper in his ear.

Seeing Blaine on his laptop screen made him feel one step closer to being whole again. "Kurt! Hi," he grinned.

"Hey," Kurt replied. "So I see my parents didn't kick you out and leave you starving at their doorstep?"

"Nope. It was actually really nice. They still welcomed me like I was their own son."

"I can't believe you doubted them. What did you think they would do, refuse to feed you? You know how my mom is."

"It seemed like a bigger issue at eight o' clock in the morning, okay? Now I realize how much of an idiot I was being, but back then I was, like, freaking out." Kurt burst into laughter and Blaine smiled, saying, "What? Don't judge me. Imagine how awkward it would have been if they had turned me down."

"Oh, yeah, I can totally imagine my dad and Carole shunning you from their home. You know, since they obviously despise you so much," he teased.

"Shut up," Blaine chuckled. "How about we change the subject? How was your day?"

Kurt shook his head in laughter at his boyfriend's deflection. "It was great. Look what I bought on Fifth Avenue." He ran across the room to pick up his new bag and hold it in front of the camera. "It was either this or a button-down from Verasce, but I thought this would come in handy more often. Apparently Rachel has been saving money specifically to go shopping on Fifth Avenue, and she gave some to me, which was extremely generous of her. I mean, look at this bag! I don't know how to repay her."

"Ooh! Nice choice," Blaine said. "I love it. It can hold everything you need for NYU."

"That's what I was thinking, too. I can use it for anything. It may just be one of the best purchases I've ever made."

"It's that amazing? Well, now I know what to get you for Christmas."

"Oh, no. You always buy me better gifts than I buy for you. It's getting ridiculously unfair. I think there will be some real competition this year...and just wait until our second anniversary."

"Bring it on." Blaine smirked and raised his eyebrows teasingly, and Kurt melted at the sight. Both were silent for a moment, and then Blaine added, "And guess what? I'm teaching your dad how to use Skype."

"Seriously? Good luck with that."

"Yeah, the first lesson is learning how to pronounce Skype correctly: Scope, Scape, Skype...same difference, right?"

"I'm so excited! Ugh, I wish I could kiss you right now. Thank you so much."

Blaine blushed and said, "No problem. They really miss you. It wasn't the same with an extra chair at breakfast."

"Aww. I miss them, too. I'm going to call them tonight."

"Good. How's Rachel doing?"

"Right now, she's passed out on the couch," Kurt answered. "It's been a long day. We're trying to get everything all done and neat for when you guys visit. Housekeeping is exhausting work."

"Well, I can't wait to see it. I know it'll look amazing. Oh, and expect my present to come in a couple of days. Call me on Skype before you open it, okay? I want to see your reaction."

"You're making me even more anxious for it! But okay," he promised. "I will."

"Thanks. I wanted—" Blaine was interrupted by his mother calling him for dinner. "I have to go. I love you."

"I love you, too."

"Bye." He disconnected the call. Kurt retrieved his phone and called his father's tire shop, where he knew he was probably still working on a flat tire or oil change.

"Hummel Tires and Lube." His father's voice came through the phone.

"Hi, Dad!"

"Kurt!" He could hear his dad's smile. "Hey, buddy! Hold on, let me put you on speaker phone...which button is it..."—there were a few beeps as he fumbled with the buttons—"There we go. Carole was just bringing me and the guys some dinner. Carole! C'mere! It's Kurt!"

Kurt couldn't help but laugh at his enthusiasm. "Hey, guys."

"Hey, Kurt!" Carole said. "How's New York?"

"It's amazing. I can't wait for you to visit, I think you'll really like it! Rachel and I already went to Central Park and Times Square, and this morning we had breakfast at Tiffany's and we went shopping on Fifth Avenue. I love this place so much. The movers came this morning and everything's here. We're still working on arranging everything, though. Where's Finn? How is he doing?"

"He's over at Puck's house," Burt replied. "He's alright, the same as he was before you left. You know, getting ready for college and everything. I'll tell him you said hi."

"Thanks. Blaine told me he was trying to teach you how to use Skype?"

"Yeah, Skype. That's how you say it, right? Skype?"

"You got it, Dad."

"Finally!"

"Did Blaine tell you he stopped by for breakfast this morning?" Carole said. "It was so sweet of him."

"Yeah, he called me before he got out of his car wondering if you would reject him because I wasn't there. I told him he was crazy and that you probably love him even more than you love me."

"Ah, well..." Burt joked. "You know I'm kidding, son. We miss you."

"I miss everyone, too. It's weird not living in the same house as you."

"I know, it's definitely taking some getting used to, but hopefully soon enough things will start to feel normal again for both of us."

"I don't think New York City has a 'normal.'"

"You know what I mean. Anyway, son, we just wanted to say that we're..." Burt paused, and Kurt knew him well enough to know that he was holding back tears. "We're really proud of you."

Tears welled up in Kurt's eyes, too. "Thank you so much, Dad. I wouldn't even be here and going to NYU in a couple of weeks if it weren't for you. I couldn't have done any of this at all without either of you guys. Thank you."

"You're welcome, sweetie," Carole said. "We'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Sure. Love you."

"Love you, too," both parents replied, and Kurt hung up and went to cook dinner for himself.

* * *

Kurt and Rachel spent the next week exploring the West Village where they lived, almost obsessively job hunting every morning. They both applied at nearly every business they saw, with the exceptions of places that looked a bit shady and gas stations ("I don't think I'll ever be that desperate," Rachel commented). They scored a few interviews, Kurt to a clothing store and the grocery store where they shopped and Rachel a Blockbuster and a bakery, but none of them called back.

Meanwhile, the Hudson-Hummels and Blaine made their plans to visit the weekend before Rachel and Kurt's classes started. Hiram and Leroy promised to visit in a few weeks, during their synchronized scheduled vacation time off of work. In order to pick up Kurt's family, they decided that one of them would rent a car and drive to Lima and back. Kurt was more than eager to go (the sooner he could see Blaine, the better), but Rachel was extremely insistent that she was the one to drive since she left some of her things at the Hummel-Hudson house and needed to bring them back. Kurt silently cursed himself for making sure to take most of his things from Blaine's house before leaving for New York.

On Wednesday of that week, Blaine's gift arrived. As soon as he saw it in their mailbox, he raced back up to their apartment (texting Blaine to be ready on his way up on the elevator), and logged onto Skype. Rachel was also present for the gift opening because she was a hopeless romantic and just _had_ to see what Blaine had gotten for him.

He opened the package to find two items: the first, a picture frame containing their picture together from senior prom in which they're both riding a dinosaur; and the second, a scrapbook. The front cover had the same picture that was in the frame. When Kurt opened it to the first page, an envelope fell out containing a DVD. He inserted it into his laptop to see that it had someone's recording of the Warblers' impromptu performance of Teenage Dream, right after Kurt and Blaine had first met. A few times, with the recorder's shaky hand, the camera panned just enough to the left to see Kurt standing in front of them and grinning from ear to ear.

"How did you find this?" Kurt asked, unable to contain the huge smile that was on his face.

"Oh, I've had it forever," Blaine said with the biggest grin on his face. "I was just waiting for the perfect moment to send it to you. Now look at the page."

The first page of the scrapbook had the words "When We First Met" in blue glued-on letters at the top of it. Below the title were different pictures: one of the staircase where they first met and then different shots of the Warblers' performance that day. Kurt took the CD out of his laptop and back into the envelope, and then put it back in the scrapbook where it had originally been.

The second section was titled "Your Transfer" and took up two pages: one page was devoted to pictures of the Warblers at Sectionals that year, and the other was full of pictures that Kurt and Blaine had taken in the time they spent together at Dalton before they officially started dating.

There were many other sections to the book: their first kiss and Regionals, after Kurt transferred back to McKinley (he was surprised to see that Blaine had kept the receipt from their coffee date where they had first said "I love you" to each other), their first summer together, Blaine's transfer to McKinley, and going to Nationals in Chicago together. In the first blank page, there was a small white piece of paper between the background and the plastic cover. _I love you more than anything in the world, _Blaine had written. _See you soon. —Blaine. _Kurt felt tears stinging at his eyes. He tried to blink them away, but to no avail. He wiped them away and took in a breath.After reading the note, he turned the page. The rest of the scrapbook was filled with colorful, patterned background pages, but none were filled in. When Kurt looked up at the camera questioningly, Blaine looked directly into the camera and said, "For all of the chapters of our relationship that we haven't experienced yet. There's still about ninety pages I haven't filled in."

Kurt was dumbstruck. "Blaine...I don't know what to say." He tried to find words, but was too busy smiling like an idiot and trying to take in the fact that his boyfriend did all of this for _him _to concentrate on anything else_. _Eventually he said, "It's...it's beautiful. It's perfect. Thank you." Still smiling, he said, "I love you so, so much."

"I love you, too. I'm glad you like it."

"I love it. I'm speechless. I can't believe you did this."

"You deserve it, babe."

Kurt just shook his head in response, still at a bit of a loss for words. He took the picture and scrapbook and proudly mounted them on the bookshelf for everyone to see.


	4. Chapter 4

The next week, Rachel left for Lima early Thursday morning, leaving Kurt alone with nothing to do. His heart raced at the simple thought that in twenty four hours, he would be with Blaine in person. He tried to clean up the apartment as much as he could, but eventually there was nothing else left to dust and he was left with nothing to do, so he ate a small breakfast, changed into a t-shirt and shorts, and decided to go for a jog. When he stepped outside, he noticed that it was slowly getting cooler outside. _Thank God,_ he thought. One of his biggest concerns about the weekend was his father's health. He didn't want him to over-exert himself.

He jogged to and around Central Park, and bought a hot dog to reward himself when he was done (although it pretty much defeated the purpose of going for a jog in the first place). He bought a newspaper from a man who was selling them for a quarter and took a seat on a bench to read it. However, by the time he had read through all the interesting articles, only half an hour had passed. He stood again and walked to Rockefeller Plaza, stopping for a moment to admire the Radio City Music Hall. A small stand sold "I Heart New York" t-shirts; he ultimately chose to give in to the cliché and bought apparel for his family. He walked around for a while before walking to Fifth Avenue to window shop, and then he was out of ideas. He thought of calling Blaine, but knew he was probably a) still sleeping or b) busy packing at the last minute like he always did.

He wandered around aimlessly, thinking of Blaine and only paying half attention to his surroundings. He wasn't sure what time it was or how he got there, but suddenly he found himself on Broadway.

While he was one hundred percent positive that he wanted to work with fashion for a living, at the end of the day he still loved to perform. He would never forget the nights where he would put on shows for his parents when he was just a little boy or when he snuck into the Gershwin Theater with Rachel and performed on the iconic stage.

Before he knew it, he was thanking the woman behind the glass window, and taking the slips of paper from her. In his hands were four tickets to see Wicked tomorrow night.They may not have been the best seats, but they were all he could afford with his debit card (also known as least eight years of allowance), and all that mattered was that tonight he was seeing his first Broadway show with Blaine, Finn, and Rachel. He knew his parents wouldn't be interested in the musical, so to make sure they didn't feel left out he walked back to the West Village and bought a gift card for the nicest Italian restaurant he could find. He was sure they'd rather spend an evening eating dinner alone than with their kids and their boyfriends or girlfriends listening to a musical. Maybe he could take Blaine out to dinner somewhere, too. _Tell everyone to pack formal,_ he texted Rachel. _Don't ask why—it's a surprise._

On the way home, he received a phone call from a private number. He cautiously accepted it. "Hello?"

A woman was on the other line. "Hi, is this Kurt Hummel?"

"Yes, can I help you?"

"This is Martha from the Eleventh Street Cafe." The coffee shop where Kurt and Rachel frequented. "I saw your job application and I was wondering if you were willing to come in for an interview?"

"Oh, I—of course!" Taken by surprise, he stumbled over his words. "When?"

"It would be great if you can come as soon as you can. One of our guys just quit, so we're one man short. Do you mind the short notice?"

"No, definitely not! I'm walking home now and I just live a block away so, um, how does one hour sound?"

"Great. Thank you so much. I'll see you soon."

"Thank you!" He hung up the phone and raced back to his apartment. He took a quick shower and spent the next twenty minutes trying to decide what to wear. Should he go for more of a casual look? What kind of guy are they looking for? He had to make a good first impression. In the end, he decided on a light blue silk shirt with black pants. After spending another five minutes making sure his hair looked nothing short of perfect, he was back out the door.

Since it only took a couple of minutes to get to the cafe from his apartment, he arrived ten minutes early. He wasn't sure what to do—should he tell the barista he's here for an interview? Or would Martha come out to see him? He had just decided he would wait five more minutes when the barista he had considered talking to before asked for his order. "I'm here for a job interview," he told her, and just then a woman who he figured was Martha entered from a back room. She looked older, maybe in her late thirties or early forties, with short brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail. When she walked up to him, Kurt noticed that she was a few inches shorter than him.

"Mr. Hummel?" she asked, and Kurt nodded. "Martha. Nice to meet you."

"You too. Thank you so much for offering me this interview. I love this place." He hoped he wasn't coming across as a suck-up when he was being honest.

"I remember seeing you around here a few times. Here, let's go into my office." She led him into a small, cramped room containing a desk and two chairs. "Have a seat," she said, sitting behind the desk and motioning to the chair across from her. He obeyed and wiped his sweaty palms on his pants.

All in all, the interview went well (at least, Kurt thought it did). Martha asked about his job history (he had none), his future, his goals, and more. He had answered all of the questions as honestly as he could, and he just hoped that she would think of that as a positive thing. When she asked when he would be able to work, he said evenings during the weekdays and anytime during the weekend, with the exception of this weekend. He explained that his parents were coming up to visit him and his best friend, and she replied "Sounds good to me." After that, they made small talk about how he's adjusting to life in the city and where he was planning to take his parents, and after about ten minutes she stood up. "Well, Kurt," she said, "I think you'd be a great addition to our team. Should I get the paperwork?" Kurt smiled in agreement and thanked her. Martha excused herself, and he thought about texting Blaine the news while she was out of the room, but then decided it was better to tell him in person. When his new boss returned, they agreed that he would work as a barista for minimum wage. His hours would be five to nine in the evening on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and noon to five on the weekends—starting next Tuesday. He shook her hand and told her "thank you" for about the eighth time that evening. "See you in a week," she said as she opened her office door for him, and they said goodbye. He ordered a coffee and the barista congratulated him on his way out; Kurt decided he would try to be friends with her. She seemed kind enough. Once he was a safe distance away from the cafe, he let out a noise that was something like a squeal in excitement. Again, he considered calling Blaine to share the news, but then he remembered that soon enough he would be here for him in person to hold and touch and kiss and love, and that fact alone made him even happier. For once, things were going pretty well for Kurt Hummel.

* * *

_WELCOME TO LIMA! Population: 38, 771. _Rachel's heart lifted at the sight of the familiar sign. She was home. The ride there was uneventful; she had been driving for ten hours straight, and her legs were so stiff she wasn't sure if she would ever be able to move them again. (Okay, maybe she was being a little dramatic.) She hoped Finn or anyone else would be willing to drive at least part of the way back, because right now she was at the risk of falling asleep at the wheel.

Rachel weaved through the streets, almost forgetting that she didn't live here anymore. It looked as if nothing had changed since she left. She reminded herself that she hasn't even been gone for a month, although it felt like years had passed since she'd last driven around the town.

She smiled to herself as she parked in front of the Hummel-Hudson house. Finn was only a few meters away, behind the front wooden door. A few hours ago, she had called the house, carrying on Kurt's message to pack formal clothing. She was just as clueless about it as them; she had spent the past hour wondering what he had planned for them.

Turning off the ignition, she jumped out of the van she had rented and raced to the door, which was open before she even stepped on the porch. Her fathers were standing in front of her, and she hugged them both. "Hi! Oh, I've missed you both so much! But what are you doing here? I thought you couldn't come?"

"We can't, unfortunately," Hiram said. "I told you we'll visit soon, though. We just wanted to stop by to see our little angel while she was in town!" He hugged his daughter again and let her inside the house. Finn was standing to the side, waiting for her. She ran straight into his arms, smiling into his chest. She tilted her head up, stood on her toes, and kissed him on the lips. Rachel had missed this so much, the indescribable feeling she always got when she was with Finn. She felt whole again.

They pulled apart and Rachel said hello to Blaine, Burt and Carole, also hugging them and telling them how excited Kurt is to see them all. She explained about the long drive and how exhausted she was, and to her relief Finn volunteered to drive. When Carole offered her a cup of coffee, she graciously accepted it.

They all crowded in the living room for about half an hour, asking Rachel about New York and what it's like and how she's enjoying it so far. She eagerly answered their questions, promising to tell them more in the car. "We should get going anyways," she said. "It's a long drive." So she said goodbye to her fathers again, promising to show them everything when they come visit, and the rest of them shoved their duffel bags and suitcases into the trunk of the van. Rachel gave Finn the directions she had written from Map Quest, and once everyone got settled in the van, they were on their way. Burt had gotten shotgun so that he could help Finn with the directions, and Carole, Rachel, and Blaine were seated, respectively, in the spacious second row of seats.

For the first hour or so, they made small talk, chatting about the heat wave that has struck New York and everything Kurt and Rachel wanted to show them in the city. However, after a while, Rachel found herself dozing off, and eventually gave in and fell asleep.

When she woke up two hours later, everyone was silent except for the radio, which hummed out the Oldies station at a low volume. To her right, Carole had turned on the ceiling light and was reading a book, and to her left Blaine was listening to his iPod. Rachel wished she had thought to bring something to keep her entertained during the ride; the time seemed to pass so slowly. She tried to talk to Finn, but then thought it was better for him to stay focused on the road. She looked at the time. It was almost seven o'clock in the evening; there were still seven hours of the trip left. She did the math in her head and calculated that they would arrive in New York at two in the morning. She thought of how dangerous it was to be in New York City at that time and started to panic. What if something happened? She was the only one who knew their way around the West Village. She reached for her purse and fished through it until she found the pepper spray that Leroy had bought her as what he called a "going away present." Although at first she thought it was a little ridiculous, who knew if it would come in handy one day? Of course, she was probably just being paranoid. Her brain tended to trick her into those kinds of things. But rather safe than sorry, right?

She shook her head as if to clear the thought from her mind and set her purse back on the car floor. She knew she was just being her neurotic self. Rachel sighed, fishing in her mind for something to think about or focus on for a while. She looked out the window only to see the long expressway and cars zooming by. It seemed more interesting driving to Lima than being a passenger to New York; when she was driving she had something to do and focus on. Now, all she could do was sit and wait for seven more hours.

She turned to Carole. "You don't happen to have another book with you, do you?"

"I do, actually." She retrieved what looked like a murder mystery novel from her purse. "Do you want to read it, honey? I hear it got really great reviews."

"Sure, I need to pass the time somehow. Thanks, Mrs. Hummel." She took the book and read the summary on the back; it actually didn't sound too bad. Deciding she has nothing to lose, she delved into the first chapter and already found it to be a lot better than she had expected.

"I'm getting kinda hungry," Burt said, and Rachel looked up and was shocked to see that it was dark outside. When did that happen? "Anyone else wanna stop and eat?" She looked at the time; it was nearly ten o' clock and she was halfway done with the book. _Since when?_ She asked herself, but she was too busy wondering why Alfred, the main character's brother, was in the murderer's house and how did Mary Anne _really _die?

The rest of the family's stomachs were growling, too, so they pulled over to an oasis. Rachel wondered if the delay was a good thing. Was it more dangerous to arrive in New York at two or three o' clock in the morning? What is the crime rate in the West Village, anyways? _Stop freaking out, _she told herself. _Everything's going to be fine._

The oasis had a number of fast food restaurants, and Rachel tried to figure out which one was the healthiest: McDonalds, Panda Express, Taco Bell, or White Castle. In the end, she chose to order rice and chow mein from Panda Express. She'd brought the book she had been reading inside with her and read it as she ate. She simply couldn't put it down. When Carole saw it in her hand she said, "I take it that's a good book?" Rachel nodded and replied through a mouthful of rice, "Oh my god, it's so good. I don't remember the last time I was this into a book. I literally can't stop reading."

"I have a lot more where that came from at home if you want to borrow any more. I'm glad you like it; maybe now I'll actually have someone to talk to about them who's actually interested." Rachel laughed and promised to finish it by the time they leave on Sunday.

After they finished eating, there were still four hours of the car ride left. Burt took over the steering wheel so Finn could sleep, and Rachel easily finished the book with an hour to spare. By then, they had entered the state of New York, and so she was trying to help guide them into the city. The streets were still busy in the middle of the night; New York _was_ the city that never sleeps, after all, and so far it had lived up to the name.

* * *

After his job interview, Kurt took a nap and set his alarm clock on his phone to midnight. Then, as he waited, he thought he might as well make some kind of housewarming dessert...at least, that was his excuse for making two dozen brownies from scratch in the middle of the night. At twelve-fifty, as the brownies were baking in the oven, he got a call from Rachel.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Kurt! We're in the city now but we're stuck in traffic so it'll probably be another hour or so. I'll text you when we're almost there, okay?"

"Sure. Say hi to Blaine for me."

"Blaine, Kurt says hi!" Kurt heard Blaine say "Hi, Kurt!" in response, and his heart fluttered. Blaine was there. An hour away. He wished he could just run to the van and see him just so he wouldn't have to wait any longer, because it was getting unbearable, knowing that Blaine was so close but Kurt still couldn't see him. "Wait, who's driving?" he asked.

"Your dad. Why?"

"Tell him to hurry up."

Rachel chucked. "Mr. Hummel, your son says to hurry up."

"Yeah, tell this traffic to hurry up," Burt said, and Kurt smiled. "I just can't wait for you guys to get here. I don't know what to do for the next hour."

"Your mom lent me this amazing book, I literally read the entire thing in like, eight hours. Who knew I liked murder mysteries?"

"Just don't get any ideas," Kurt commented jokingly. "I'll see you later." Rachel said goodbye and he hung up.

He sighed as he put his phone down. One hour. Sixty minutes. Three thousand, six hundred seconds (approximately) until Blaine and his parents got there. He found himself unable to stay still, so he went to work cleaning the apartment, ignoring the fact that it didn't need to be cleaned. He scrubbed the spotless counters and swept the dust bunny-less floors. When the oven beeped off, the brownies came out of the oven, and he washed the sink as they cooled. He had just finished frosting them when he got a text from Rachel.

_About a mile away. Be ready. ;)_

Kurt's heart leapt to his throat and it felt as if he were walking on air as he practically ran down the hallway and into the elevator. He pushed the lobby button repeatedly, as if hitting it ten times over would make the elevator go faster. When the doors opened on the bottom floor, he kept running down the hallway and pushed the front door open just in time to see their van pull up. The darkness of the night made it hard to see inside the vehicle, but after a few seconds the back door slid open and his mother came out. He rushed over to her and hugged her. "Hi, sweetie," she said. "We've missed you so much."

"I've missed you, too." They pulled apart, and Rachel came out next. He waved to her, and then he saw Blaine. At the sight of him, hair disheveled from the long car ride, wearing jeans and a dark blue t-shirt, Kurt grinned and flew over to him, immediately wrapping his boyfriend in his arms. He breathed in the familiar smell that he had come to associate with Blaine, wanting to hold him tighter and never have to let go. Blaine buried his face in his neck and pulled away a few inches only so he could kiss him, a warm, soft kiss that sent Kurt flying up into God knows where. Blaine drew out the kiss, kissing Kurt's top lip and then his bottom, and Kurt ran his hands through his messy, curly hair. No words were spoken; they didn't need to speak to communicate and know what the other boy was thinking. The kiss seemed to last forever until his father awkwardly yet pointedly cleared his throat. Kurt felt his blood rise to his face and separated himself from Blaine only a few inches.

"Hey," Finn said, coming in for a hug, and Kurt accepted it, wrapping his arms around his stepbrother.

"Come on, let's go inside and we'll show you around," Kurt said, holding the front door open for his family members who were carrying suitcases. His fingers were linked with Blaine's from the time he closed the front door to the time he opened their apartment door. It was just a simple gesture, a hand-hold, but to Kurt it was a constant reminder that Blaine was here, that this was all real and not another dream.

His family stepped inside the apartment and looked around, Carole complimenting them on their furniture placement in the living room. Rachel and Kurt gave them all the "grand tour" showing them the bathroom and both of their bedrooms. Caitlyn and Rob weren't leaving until tomorrow, so for now one of the couples had to sleep on the roll-out bed that was attached to the couch. Kurt explained all of this to the group, and Carole and Burt volunteered. Kurt tried to protest, but they insisted that he "already spent one night sleeping on the floor, now it's our turn to get the crappy bed." He didn't really understand, but he didn't protest further.

"Now," he said, leading them to the island counter, "I was getting bored waiting for you guys, so I made these." He waved a hand to gesture towards the brownies he had baked, and everyone let out a noise of pleasure as they grabbed one of the treats.

Rachel took a bite out of one and, with a mouth full of chocolate, said, "Ugh, these are so good. Why haven't you made these before?"

"Because we still have cookies from our neighbors."

Carole asked, "You made these from scratch?" Kurt nodded. "You have to give me the recipe."

"Another thing..." he went into his bedroom and came out with a plastic shopping bag. "I was walking around today, and I saw one of these stands and I figured I'd be cliché and buy these for you guys." He pulled out the "I Heart New York" t-shirts he had bought, all in different colors. "I hope I got the sizes right. And just please don't wear them on the same day."

"Thanks, Kurt!" Blaine said, and the rest of the family expressed their gratitude.

"Kurt, you're making me look bad, with all these presents," Rachel quipped.

"I got one for you and me, too. Here." He gave her the pink shirt he had bought. "Okay, I'm sorry for all the gifts and now that I'm looking back on this all it probably is a lot but I was excited today and you all know I'm an impulsive shopper so...there's one more thing." Kurt reached into his pocket. "For Mom and Dad, I have a gift card to the West Village's finest Italian restaurant." He held out the gift card, and Burt and Carole smiled, looking surprised.

"Aw, thank you so much! That's so sweet of you," Carole said, and his father commented, "Kid, you didn't have to do all this for us."

"Shush," Kurt replied. "Dad, you spent eighteen years spoiling me. Let me do the same for you for one weekend."

"Thanks, Kid."

"You're welcome. Now, for the rest of us, I have..." he pulled the slips of paper from his other pocket. "Four tickets to see the the one and only classic Broadway show..." He paused suspensefully. "_Wicked._"

Despite the fact that it was nearly three o' clock in the morning, Rachel screamed—literally _screamed,_ an ear-piercing yell that made Kurt's ears ring for the next ten minutes—and jumped out of her chair to grab the tickets. "You've got to be kidding me," she said, and then repeated "You've _got._ To be_ kidding _me!" with added emphasis. "Kuuuurt, you are the best!" she kissed his cheek and hugged him. Finn also said thanks, and Blaine gave him a peck on the lips.

Kurt turned to his parents and said, "I really hope you guys don't mind. I know you aren't really into musicals so I thought you might enjoy a night out alone."

"Yeah, it's totally fine with us!" Burt approved, and Carole nodded with a smile.

"Okay, good. I was a little worried."

"Don't be. You're right; musicals aren't really our thing. Thank you so much for the dinner, though. And the t-shirts."

"You're welcome. It was the least I could do." He hugged them both. "Oh! I almost forgot! One more thing," he said to everyone.

"Please no more gifts," Burt said.

"No, no. I have a story to tell you. Today I was walking home from buying the tickets and I got a call from that coffee shop right down the block, saying that one of their employees just quit and if I could come in for an interview."

"That's awesome, man!" Finn exclaimed.

"Wait, I'm not even done! It gets better," Kurt continued. "So she asked when I could come in and I said right now. So I did the interview and I guess she really liked me because I got the job!"

There were joyous shouts from all around the room as everyone congratulated him. "And now, I finally have nothing left to say," he said. "Thanks, everyone. We should get to bed, though. Rachel and I have a long day of touring planned for tomorrow."

Kurt helped his father set up the roll-out bed, which turned out to be more comfortable than they had expected. Finn and Rachel went to bed, and so did Kurt and Blaine soon after. They climbed into the bed, Kurt taking the left side and Blaine on the right, as always. At first, they just lay down together, Kurt's head resting on Blaine's chest, listening to the gentle drumming of his heartbeat. Neither of them spoke for a long time.

Who knows how much time has passed when Kurt broke the silence. "I'm really glad you're here," he whispered. "I can't even...describe how much I've missed you. I wish you didn't have to leave again."

"Let's not think about that, okay?" Blaine comforted him despite the fact that the same thought nagged at the back of his mind. "I'm here now. We're together. How about we just focus on today?"

"I've tried that. It doesn't work."

"Well..." Blaine's voice dropped to a whisper. "Maybe I can help take your mind off of it."

Kurt raised his head to look at Blaine. "What are you thinking?"

"Let me show you." Blaine brought his hand to Kurt's chin and tilted his face upwards, kissing him on the lips. Kurt took the opportunity to deepen the kiss, wrapping his arms around Blaine's neck and pulling him closer. The kiss became more passionate as their lust for each other quickly grew. Kurt tugged at the hem of his boyfriend's shirt, and Blaine pulled it over his head as Kurt covered both of them with the bed's comforter.

* * *

When it was over, they both lay in the darkness, facing each other on Kurt's bed. There was hardly any open space between them.

"I love you." Blaine's voice was barely a whisper; if Kurt had not been as close as he was, he would not have heard it.

"I love you, too."


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning, Kurt woke up to the smell of pancakes on the stove. Beside him, Blaine was still asleep. He looked beautiful, and Kurt loved seeing that last night was very real and not a dream at all. He threw on his clothes and went into the kitchen, where he found Rachel looking at a recipe on her laptop with a spatula in her hand. His father was sitting on the re-folded couch and watching the morning news. His mother was trying to help Rachel make breakfast.

"See, once the edges start to get dry and the top stops bubbling, that's when you flip them," Carole was explaining.

Rachel turned back to the stove. "Okay. I think I got it."

"Let me know if you need any more help."

"G'morning," Kurt said groggily, still feeling half-asleep. "What time is it?"

"Ten o' clock," Rachel replied. "I woke up about an hour ago, and I decided to make pancakes for breakfast but then I dropped the pan which woke your parents up and since then everything has been going smoothly, for the most part. Finn is still sleeping."

"So is Blaine. I'm going to go get coffee. Mom, Dad, do you want anything?" He took their orders and was out the door. The temperature was slowly dropping day by day; it was probably about eighty degrees now. The city was already awake; people were bustling around the streets, rushing to their classes or jobs. Kurt walked down to the Eleventh Street Cafe, where he would be working in a few short days, he remembered. Shit. He probably should have at least tried to look a little more presentable. He didn't even want to think about how bad his hair looked at the moment.

A different barista was there, but Martha was behind the counter mixing some sort of iced drink. "Hi there," she said at the sight of Kurt and joked, "Coming to work early?"

Kurt chuckled. "Just getting some coffee for my family and me. They got here at two in the morning, so everyone's kind of exhausted."

"Oh, I can imagine. Tell them I said welcome to the city." Back in her office, the phone rang. "See you Tuesday, Kurt." She left to answer it, and Kurt the barista took his order.

When he returned home juggling six coffee cups, Finn and Blaine was still sleeping. He handed everyone their drinks and took a few pancakes from the huge stack what was beginning to pile up. He poured syrup on them and took a bite while he tried to decide whether he should wake Blaine or not. On one hand, if Blaine was planning on eating breakfast, it would be best to snag as many as you can before the rest of the family stole them. On the other hand...well, there wasn't really anything there.

He put his fork down on his plate and walked to his bedroom, where Blaine was now draped across the bed, arms and legs spread out in every which direction. Shaking his head, Kurt laughed silently at the sight. He pushed Blaine's shoulder slightly to see if it could wake him, but he was still out like a light. "Blaine," he said, pushing him harder. It was no use; there was no waking him.

Kurt did the one thing he knew would wake Blaine: he kissed him hard on the lips, resting a hand on his bare shoulder. This time, Blaine woke up almost instantly, instinctively pushing Kurt away. Once he saw who it was, however, he tried to go in for a second kiss. Their lips were mere centimeters apart when Kurt stepped away, opening the blinds on the bedroom window and letting the morning light in. "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty."

"You're a tease." Blaine fell back into the pillows, shielding his face from the light with another one. Kurt pulled the pillow from his face. "Nuh-uh. It's almost eleven in the morning. Rachel and my mom made pancakes. I bought coffee. Let's go."

"Ugh. You had me at coffee." He slowly got out of bed, and in a rush Kurt threw his clothes at him and slammed the door shut before his family could see Blaine's naked body.

"Oh! Jesus," Blaine exclaimed in surprise, blushing as he threw on a shirt and pants in a rush. "Right. Last night happened."

"Everything okay in there?" Carole called behind the closed door.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Kurt replied, and then whispered to Blaine, "I know. I was there. I'm going back out to the kitchen, okay?" He kissed his forehead. "I love you."

"'ovyoutoo," Blaine said sleepily. Kurt stepped out into the kitchen and returned to his breakfast, which had turned cold. "Blaine's awake," he informed his family.

"I was wondering what all that noise was..." Rachel said with a suggestive wink. Kurt glared at her.

Blaine stepped out of the bedroom then, looking at least a little more awake. "Good morning everyone," he said, and everyone said good morning back. Kurt pushed Blaine's medium drip towards him. "Thanks," he said, taking the cup.

"So what's the plan for today?" Carole asked the group as she took a bite from her breakfast. Rachel told the family the schedule she and Kurt had come up with, which was full of exciting activities and new locations to visit.

Eventually, while everyone was finishing their breakfast, Finn came out of Rachel's bedroom. "Whoa," he said, trying to use his arms to shield his eyes from the bright sun. "What time is it?"

"It's past eleven o' clock," Rachel replied. "Hurry up and eat; we've got a busy day ahead of us." The sight of the pancakes seemed to wake Finn up, and he grabbed what was left of them.

"Okay," Rachel said, standing up and putting her plate in the sink. "I'm going to go take a shower. We have to be out the door by one if we want to do everything we have planned, so chop-chop!" She clapped her hands enthusiastically and left the room.

Everyone finished their breakfast, and Carole insisted on doing the dishes. "Just like old times," she said. Meanwhile, Kurt worked on putting away all the ingredients Rachel had used to make the pancakes.

While he was putting the flour back in the upper cabinet, Blaine came up behind him, wrapping his arms around Kurt's waist. In the tight space, Kurt turned around to face his boyfriend. "I can't wait to show you everything."

"I can't wait to see everything." Blaine kissed him, and when Kurt dove in for another, Blaine untangled his arms from his waist and turned around.

"Ass," Kurt playfully called him in a low enough voice that his parents couldn't hear.

"Now we're even." But Blaine still gave in and kissed him one more time.

* * *

An hour and a half later, everyone was showered and ready. Kurt had already gone next door to pick up Rob and Caitlyn's spare key, thanking them once again for their generosity, and had handed it to his father. Finally, they were ready to leave the apartment and start exploring the city.

First, Kurt and Rachel showed them around the West Village Then, after more walking, they came across the Village Vanguard, which made Carole and Burt very happy as they were both fans of jazz music.

Next, they broke the anti-public transportation rule again (this time for a good reason; Kurt was worried about his father's heart) to reach Central Park. They walked throughout the entire park, occasionally pausing to admire a statue or fountain or monument. After Central Park, they visited the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and other common tourist places. Blaine was in love with the city; he just loved the people, the buildings, everything. Burt and Carole were also enchanted by New York and all that it had to offer. Carole's face lit up whenever she saw an especially beautiful garden in the park or read an amazing story on the base of a statue. Although Finn had been to New York before when the New Directions went to Nationals two years ago, he still seemed to be enjoying himself and having fun at all the new places they were seeing.

At six o' clock they returned to their apartment to get ready for the evening. _Wicked_ began at eight o' clock, so they made sure to leave precisely at six-forty five to ensure that they would arrive at the theater in time. Burt and Carole left for their dinner at the same time, since they had nothing to do at the apartment. Kurt advised them to take their time, since the play was long and they were still going out to dinner afterward.

They arrived at the theater fifteen minutes before the beginning of the show and quickly found their seats in the balcony area. Kurt looked at the stage, remembering the time when he and Rachel had snuck into the theater and sung on the very same stage. Now, he was going to see the actual cast perform the musical. He could hardly believe it; this was his—as well as Rachel, Blaine and Finn's—first time seeing a play on Broadway. The closest he had ever gotten to this experience was when Blaine had taken him to see Lima's community rendition of RENT (which was too watered-down from the original musical, since it was for a younger audience) back when they were just friends. He was so happy to be sharing the experience now with his now-boyfriend, his best friend, and his stepbrother.

In the seat next to him, he slipped his hand in Blaine's. They stayed locked together over the arm of their seats for the entire show. The first act was over far too quickly; Kurt found himself shedding a tear over Elphaba's performance of _Defying Gravity, _again reminiscing to his sophomore year, when he had competed with Rachel for the solo, back when they were still enemies. So much had changed when he joined the New Directions, he thought. After a year, he grew to love Rachel, and now he was living with her in the city of their dreams. If you had told his fifteen year old self that, he would have never believed you, but here he was.

During the intermission, the group went out to the lobby to stretch their legs. When Kurt turned to Rachel, he saw that she had been crying, too. He went to comfort her, and Rachel hugged him. "You know I'm really glad we're friends, right?"

"Of course I know," Kurt replied, stroking her back. "So am I. I never thought that I'd actually be here in New York after high school, but I am, and I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you."

Rachel didn't respond; she only pulled away from Kurt, wiped her tears away, and gave him a warm smile. All four of them bought some sort of _Wicked _merchandise; a coffee mug for Kurt, a poster for Rachel, and t-shirts for Finn and Blaine.

As they walked back in the theater, Blaine whispered to Kurt, "This is even better than I expected. It's amazing."

"I know," Kurt said in response. "Jackie Burn's rendition of Defying Gravity almost gave Idina a run for her money. Almost." The lights dimmed then, cuing the beginning of the second act.

* * *

When then musical ended, Kurt was still wrapping his head around the fact that he just saw _Wicked_ on Broadway in _person_, not through some crappy, low quality bootleg on YouTube. He still had a hard time believing it and had caught himself pinching his own arm every half hour or so during the play.

They found a small Thai restaurant to eat dinner at a few blocks away. As they took their seats at a table, Rachel asked, "So how are you guys liking New York?"

"I love it," Blaine said. "I wish I could stay here. I can't wait to move back next year."

"Me too," Finn answered. "I mean, I've been here before, but we never really got to explore the city when we went to Nationals, you know? It's really cool seeing everything now."

"Where do you want to go tomorrow?" Kurt asked.

"Oh, I would really love to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge," Blaine replied. "It just seems like it would be nice."

"And I've always wanted to go to the top of the Empire State Building," Finn said.

"Ooh, okay!" Rachel exclaimed. "We can do both of those. We'll see what Burt and Carole want to do, too."

A waitress came by to take their orders. Rachel ordered a bowl of rice, Finn and Kurt asked for sushi, and Blaine ordered orange chicken.

After a few minutes of small talk, Kurt said, "I've missed having you two around. I wish you didn't have to leave."

"If it weren't for glee," Blaine said, "I would so work on convincing my parents to let me do my senior year in New York. But there is no way they would ever let me do that, and I would miss the New Directions too much."

"That would be amazing, though," Kurt replied. "I'm so excited for next year. Living in New York has totally changed my perspective on the entire city. I'm so glad I decided to come here."

"I agree," said Rachel. "Living here is amazing. I still can't believe we got out of Lima." She smiled at Kurt.

"Well, I'd like to make a toast," Blaine announced, raising his glass of soda. "To Rachel and Kurt." Finn clinked his glass of water together with Blaine's, Kurt and Rachel blushed, and Blaine leaned over in his chair to kiss his boyfriend on the cheek.

* * *

It was almost one o' clock in the morning when they returned home. Burt had left a message on Kurt's phone during _Wicked _letting him know that they had gotten home safely and thanking him for a great night. Kurt sent him a text (and hoped he knew how to view it on his phone) telling them they'll leave the apartment key under the doormat so they can come over for breakfast in the morning.

Both couples went straight to bed, and when Kurt woke up the next morning, the space in the bed next to him was empty. He went to the kitchen to see Blaine, already dressed and talking to his father. Probably about sports, Kurt figured. However, once Burt saw him walking in the room, he stopped talking. Kurt was suspicious, but didn't comment on what he saw. Rachel and Finn must still have been asleep, because they were both absent in the kitchen. Carole asked if they would be on board with going out for breakfast as her and Burt's treat to them, and Kurt and Blaine agreed. "So how was dinner last night?" Kurt asked.

"It was wonderful," Carole said. "Thank you so much. I had the most delicious lasagna I have ever tasted."

Burt handed Kurt the gift card he had given them. "There's still a few bucks left on there for you to use. Thanks again, Kid."

"You're welcome. It was the least I could do. I'm glad you liked it."

"How was the musical?" Carole asked.

Memories of the night before flashed before Kurt's eyes. It all still seemed surreal. "Oh my God, it was fantastic. Flawless, actually. Of course, I knew it would be amazing, but it completely exceeded my expectations, and let me tell you, I had pretty high expectations for that show."

"Yeah," Blaine said in agreement. "Me, too. Like...I can't even explain it. I've seen parts of it online, but seeing it in person was a hundred times better."

Carole smiled. "When did you guys get home?"

"Around one o' clock. The musical lasted until about eleven, and then we went out to dinner afterward."

"Well, I'm happy to see you guys had fun," Burt said.

"And what do you think about the city?" Kurt wondered.

"You know what, I'm not going to lie—I like it a lot more than I thought I would," Burt said. "I had my doubts about it at first, but now I'm really starting to warm up to it."

"I agree," Carole said. "To be honest, I don't think I could ever live here, like, permanently—I've always been more of a suburban person—but it's a really nice place for a little vacation. We'll have to visit again soon."

"I'd love that. Maybe in a couple of months, once Rachel and I are adjusted to college. There's still so much you haven't seen—oh! You should come in the winter. We can go ice skating in Rockefeller Center!"

"Count me in," Blaine said.

"For what?" Rachel asked, walking into the room.

"I was just saying that they should visit again during the winter, so we could all go ice skating in Rockefeller Center," Kurt explained.

"Ooh, yes! We have to do that. _Oh!_ Maybe you guys can come for New Year's and we can all go see the ball drop! Wouldn't that be fun?"

"I _have_ always wanted to see that," Carole said. "What do you think, Burt?"

"It seems pretty cool on TV. Sure, I'm in."

"Awesome! Okay, mark your calendars..." Kurt walked over to the calendar they had on the fridge.

"What are we marking calendars for?" Finn walked into the room. Kurt sighed and explained his idea again, flipping to the December page.

"Yeah, that would be cool," Finn responded.

"It would be best to fly in, because the roads will probably be bad that time of year. How does December thirtieth sound?" Kurt suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Finn said, and everyone else agreed.

"Great! It'll be so much fun." Kurt turned to Finn and Rachel. "We're going out for breakfast, Mom and Dad's treat."

"Oh, thank you!" Rachel said appreciatively. "I'll go get ready."

"Me, too." Kurt headed for his room, still wondering what Blaine and his father had been talking about before but pushing the thought to the back of his mind. It was none of his business anyway.

* * *

When they asked for the nearest breakfast place, Google Maps directed them to a pancake house two miles away, so they decided to walk there and see how it was. On the way there, Kurt and Blaine strayed a few feet behind the rest of the family. Kurt decided to ask Blaine the question that had been gnawing away in the back of his mind all morning. "Okay, I don't mean to be like, one of those boyfriends who don't let their boyfriend have a private life or whatever, or not really, that doesn't even make sense and now I'm rambling and...nevermind."

Blaine couldn't help but smile at his boyfriend's apprehension. "Kurt, what is it? You know you could tell me anything." He took Kurt's hand in his own, hoping for his boyfriend to open up to him.

"Okay," Kurt said. He took a deep breath. "Okay. I'm probably just over-analyzing everything like I usually do but..." he paused for a moment. "What were you talking about with my dad this morning? It just seemed kind of...weird. As soon as I walked in both of you turned quiet, and I couldn't help but wonder..."

"Oh, that?" Blaine laughed. "I'm pretty sure that was when your dad was giving me—" he raised his index and middle fingers, making air quotation marks—"'the talk.'"

"He _what?_"

"I know. It was...really awkward."

"What did he say? Oh, God, I'm so sorry. I know my dad, and if it's anything like the talk he gave me—"

"Don't worry about it, Kurt. I know he was just looking out for you. He just told me 'you better be safe with my son'—"

"Oh my God."

"Don't worry, that was the worst part. Then he just said for me to take care of you."

Kurt was silent for a moment. While it was embarrassing, it was kind of sweet of his dad to say that last part to Blaine. When he finally spoke he said, "Well, it could have been a lot worse."

They both burst into laughter. "I guess you're right," Blaine said, still laughing. "Come on." Holding Kurt's hand, they caught up with the rest of the group, who looked at them strangely as they kept giggling like little children.

* * *

After breakfast, they walked over to Fifth Avenue and then to the Empire State Building, just like Finn wanted. They waited in the long line for tickets, and then finally found themselves in the elevator taking them to the top floor. Kurt's ears popped as they ascended. When the elevator doors opened, they were in a room with glass walls. They immediately rushed to find a vacant spot by a window so they could look down below.

They found a space on the other side of the room and looked out the window. The view was breathtaking; you could literally see the entire city. After a few minutes of searching, Rachel found their neighborhood (or at least it looked a lot like it), although they couldn't see their exact apartment building behind the taller skyscrapers. The skies were clear, so the view wasn't muddled by clouds or fog. They looked out at Central Park, which was bigger than they had imagined (even though Kurt and Rachel had walked through it at least five times since they moved there). From another side of the room they could see the Statue of Liberty, looking as small as the tiny souvenir Statue Blaine had bought. There was so much to see in New York, Kurt realized. He wondered how long it would take him to experience everything it had to offer. There were millions of people, thousands of buildings, hundreds of landmarks. It seemed impossible.

Next, like Blaine wanted, they walked across the Brooklyn Bridge. They spent a few hours in the neighborhood and ate lunch there before walking back. Everyone was ready to collapse by the time they were done, but they all agreed that it was worth it.

By the time they got home it was time for dinner, but instead of eating out again Kurt decided that he would cook and finally put their dining table to good use. He sent Rachel out to get some last-minute ingredients he needed, and then he went to work breading chicken and mixing sauce and boiling water for pasta while the rest of the family chatted.

An hour and a half later, Kurt Hummel's Famous Chicken Parmesan was ready to be served. As he brought the plates out to his family, he was reminded of a dinner he had shared with his father over a decade ago, shortly after the death of his mother.

"_Dinner is served," Burt announced, setting the small chicken down on the dining room table. Kurt tried to smile, but couldn't bring himself to do it. It wasn't the same without his mother sitting across the table. Kurt appreciated everything his dad was doing for him, but he knew he was just putting on a brave face for his son. That didn't stop Kurt from hearing his father's quiet sobs when he was outside his bedroom door, wanting to go and sleep in his bed after waking up from a terrifying nightmare. Kurt knew he was trying his best, though. Adjusting to life without his mother was hard for both of them._

_His father picked up the carving knife and cut into the chicken. The knife was only cut an inch or two into the meat when it hit something hard. "Must be part of the bone," Burt said. "I just have to...cut through it..." he sawed the knife through the chicken, only for the slice to fall onto the plate with a _clunk. _Kurt, curious, picked the piece up. "Daddy, the chicken is all cold inside."_

_Burt touched the inside of the chicken with his index finger. Sure enough, it was as cold as it was in the freezer. "It's completely raw," he said, and started to laugh. Before he knew what he was doing, Kurt was laughing, too. The laughter was infectious. Cracking up, Burt set down the carving knife and shook his head. "We really don't know what we're doing without your mom, do we, kid?" At the mention of his mother, the mood turned solemn again, and Kurt was ashamed of himself. It was too soon to laugh. The air seemed empty without the sound of his mother's soft yet contagious laughter in it. He wondered how long it would take for things to feel normal again, if they ever would._

"Kurt, this is delicious!"

He was snapped back into reality by Rachel's compliment. "Thanks," he said, still only paying half-attention. The other half of his mind was still thinking of his mother. What would she think of him if she were still alive? Would she be proud of him? He may not believe in God, but if there was some kind of heaven up there, he had no doubts that his mother was in it.

He was young when she passed away, but he still missed her. Of course, he was happy that his dad found Carole, but sometimes he thought about what it would be like if his mother were still here. How different would things be? Finn wouldn't be his stepbrother. He may have never transferred to Dalton.

He didn't pay much attention to the conversation during dinner, just smiling and nodding in agreement when someone spoke. He couldn't concentrate on anything for more then fifteen seconds.

After dinner, he was washing the dishes when his dad came up to him. "Is everything okay, bud?"

"Yeah, Dad. Everything's fine. Why?"

"You just seemed kind of quiet at dinner. I was wondering if there was anything you wanted to talk about..."

Kurt took a shaky breath and set down the plate he was scrubbing. "When I was making dinner, I remembered that one time you tried to make dinner right after Mom died, with the raw chicken. And I started thinking about her and what things would be like if she were still here and if she would be proud of me and everything. It just...made me think. I still miss her, and you know how much I love Carole, but I just wish she could be here."

"Kurt..." his dad was quiet for a minute before answering. "I still miss her, too. I always will. Not a day goes by where I don't wonder what I could have done differently or what I could have said to her before she passed. But I know that if she were still here, she would be so proud of you, Kurt. Ever since you were a little kid, you told us you wanted to move to a big city and be famous when you grew up. This has always been your dream, and she would be so happy to see that you're doing this. I know you and I aren't really the religious type, but I know that wherever she is, your mom's is watching over us."

Kurt saw a tear run down his father's cheek, and the sight made his own eyes sting. He wrapped his arms around him. "I love you, Dad," he said into his shoulder, also holding back tears.

"I love you too, Kurt." They pulled apart, and Burt offered to finish washing the dishes. Kurt let him, briefly resting a hand on his dad's shoulder before joining the rest of the family around the television.

* * *

Kurt's family left the next morning. There were tearful goodbyes, hopes to come back to visit in the winter, and promises to return to Lima for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Kurt's first class was tomorrow, and Rachel's was next week. Rachel was called in for a job interview at a record store, so neither of them were able to help the family drive home. Kurt warned for his dad to be careful and to make Finn drive if he gets tired. For Kurt, the worst part of the morning was having to say goodbye to Blaine again. He had only been in New York for two days, but he'd already grown used to Blaine being by his side again. It was just as hard to say goodbye as it was when he first left.

"It'll be okay," Kurt convinced Blaine. "We can do this. It'll be fine, I promise."

Blaine tried his best to believe him, but for some reason he had doubts. He loved Kurt, and he knew that Kurt loved him. But they've never gone more than two weeks without seeing each other, let alone three months. Reality was starting to sink in. What if Kurt met someone else? Someone who actually lived in New York and could be with him twenty-four seven, the way Blaine used to be. What if he realized that he could do so much better than Blaine, like he knew Kurt could?

A million questions and doubts ran through his mind. As hard as he tried to ignore them, they kept creeping back into his mind during the car ride home, demanding his attention. He needed to talk to someone. Finn? They were good friends, but he wasn't really nice to talk to when it came to pouring out your feelings. Brittany? She wouldn't understand. He took out his phone and scrolled through the contacts. If he was being honest, the only person he felt comfortable sharing his doubts and secrets about his relationship with Kurt was Tina. Tina knew what he was going through; she was experiencing the same thing with Mike. He texted her, _Ready for another not-pity party tonight? Just left New York. _A minute later she replied, _I'll go buy ice cream._ Blaine smiled sadly at his phone. He was really grateful to have Tina as a friend. She was good at consoling him and keeping him in reality, and in return he made sure to do the same for her.

The eleven hour long car ride home was uneventful; Carole and Burt talked about what they had seen and visited, but neither Finn nor Blaine joined in the conversation. Eventually, Blaine fell asleep, and didn't wake up until they were two hours away from home. Truth be told, he barely slept last night; he held Kurt through the night, watching the shallow rise and fall of his chest as he breathed. He didn't want to sleep through a moment of the last few hours he had with Kurt before he had to leave again.

When he came to, it was three o' clock in the afternoon. Next to him, Finn was asleep. Burt was still driving, and Carole was humming to the tune of the music on the radio. He laid back in his seat, thinking of how just two days ago, he was in the same car on his way to see his boyfriend, and now they were separated again. It felt like they had only spent an hour together.

His phone vibrated in his lap. He picked it up to see that he had a text from Kurt. _Miss you already_, it read. It seemed like no matter how far away they were from each other, they always knew what the other was thinking. It was as if there were some kind of invisible string or wire that constantly kept them connected despite the distance between them. Maybe it was just from spending so much time with each other, but to Blaine it was a sign that they were meant to be, that maybe things would work out in the end. Maybe he was just crazy and over-thinking it, but to him it was a sign of hope.

_I miss you too,_ he texted back. _Love you._

Kurt replied,_ I love you too._

_Yeah, _Blaine thought._ Kurt was right. _They were going to be just fine.

* * *

Kurt spent that afternoon printing out the pictures he had taken over the weekend with Blaine and his family and using them for the newest page in his scrapbook. Rachel was out for her job interview at that sheet music store; he hoped it was going well. They could really use the extra money, even if it wasn't much. He glued and cut various pictures and decorations onto the page, and thought it looked all right in the end. When he was done, he surfed though the television channels, did his laundry, ate the rest of the neighbor's cookies (which reminded him that he needed to return their apartment key later), and caught up on all the fashion magazines he was subscribed to.

At around four o'clock, Rachel walked through the door. "How did it go?" Kurt asked, and she shrugged. "Okay, I guess. They said they would get back to me, which is the same thing the thirty other places I interviewed at said and they never did, so I'm not getting my hopes up. And the guy who conducted the interview was kind of creepy and he kept staring at me all...creepily, so I don't know what to think. We'll see."

"Ah, well, I hope you get it."

"Thanks." She looked around the room and gave a little sigh. "Is it just me or does this place feel empty without Finn, Blaine, and your parents?"

"It does, doesn't it? I don't know what to do until tomorrow. I already miss them."

"Me, too. I was thinking about that on my walk home, and I figured tonight was the perfect night for a distraction..." she went to the bookshelf and pulled out two DVDs, _Funny Girl_ and its sequel, _Funny Lady._ Kurt smiled at her.

"What?" she said, already putting the first disc into their DVD player. "It's the ultimate cheer-up movie. It's Barbra, for God's sake." The Columbia Pictures logo came across the screen, and Rachel threw the remote onto the couch. "You start the popcorn. I'm going to go change."

Kurt shook his head in almost disbelief and turned to find the microwave popcorn they had bought. All of this happened in a matter of no more than a minute and a half; it was almost as if she had planned this. It was the typical, spontaneous, Streisand-loving Rachel Berry that he knew and loved.

A few minutes later, the popcorn was ready, and Rachel came back into the living room and flopped down on the couch just as the previews ended. She patted the space next to her. "Come on," she urged Kurt, who was pouring the popcorn in a bowl.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." he carried the bowl over to the couch and took a seat next to her.

Rachel was right; the movies were a great distraction. It took his mind off of the fact that Blaine and his parents were gone. He and Rachel sang along to the songs (they were legitimately surprised they didn't hear complaints about the noise after "Don't Rain On My Parade") and imagined what would have happened in the second movie if certain events hadn't happened or had gone differently. All in all, it was a fun way to spend the rest of the day, and Kurt was glad that Rachel had decided (and had forced him) to watch the two musicals.

"Good night, Kurt," Rachel said when the credits of _Funny Lady_ started rolling, leaving the popcorn bowl on the coffee table and shuffling to her bedroom.

"G'night," Kurt replied. He considered staying up, but he figured it would be better to get a good night's sleep before his first day of college. In the end he went into his bedroom and collapsed onto the bed, wishing Blaine were still there next to him.


	6. Chapter 6

When he woke up, Blaine's lips were on his. His eyes were still closed, but he could feel the warmth of his boyfriend's body above him. Kurt ran a hand down his back and used the other to pull Blaine closer. He brought his hand back up to run his fingers through Blaine's hair, desperately needing to close any distance there was between them. Blaine's mouth was soft and warm on his, and he immediately felt the cold air in the bedroom rush between them when he pulled away to plant more kisses on Kurt's neck. "I want you so bad," Blaine breathed before kissing him on the lips again, and his—

Kurt was awakened by his blaring alarm clock. He reached for Blaine next to him, but his hands were only met with the cold bedsheets. He sighed as he got out of bed. On the bed stand, he saw the flashing red light on his phone indicating that he had a new text message. He unlocked his phone to see that it was from Blaine.

_Good luck today! Skype later? Can't wait to hear everything. :)_

Kurt sent a reply saying he'll be online at their usual time before picking up the outfit he had planned for the day: a short-sleeve white button down shirt with a red sweater (in case it's cold inside the school) and dark skinny jeans. He had changed the outfit at least twenty times before finally deciding on this one; he had asked for both Blaine and Rachel's opinions and took them into account, changing the shirt or sweater color again and again until he deemed the outfit acceptable.

He took a shower and got dressed, and when he walked out of the bathroom Rachel was awake and eating a bowl of cereal over the counter. "Good mooorniiing!" she sing-songed energetically before looking him up and down. "Looking good, Hummel!"

"Thanks," he said. "I'm kind of nervous. What if I can't find where my classes are? What if they're hard? Do you think they'd—"

"Don't worry about it. You sound like you're going into your freshman year of high school. You'll be great, I know it. Cereal?" She shook the box of Frosted Flakes and Kurt nodded.

"Seriously, though. You have nothing to worry about. Of course it's going to be hard; it's college. But you'll survive. We both will."

Kurt nodded as if to reassure himself. "You're right," he said. "It's going to be great. It'll be...fun."

"Exactly. You'll meet new people. Ooh, we should have all of our friends over for dinner sometime."

"We have to make friends first. Don't get ahead of yourself, now."

"Oh, we will. Kurt, we're in New York."

Kurt didn't reply. Maybe his nervousness was the cause of his pessimism. Whatever it was, he tried to ignore it and brighten up. He smiled at Rachel. "Right. I'm going to go out there and be social and make friends."

"That's more like it. I like the optimistic Kurt better." She pushed his bowl of cereal towards him. "Now eat." He obeyed, shoving a spoonful of cereal into his mouth.

"Okay. Now that you're done freaking out," Rachel said, "do you have everything? Is your bag packed?"

"Yes, Mom," Kurt teased her, and she stuck her tongue out at him. Just then, his phone rang, and he took it out of his pocket. "Speaking of parents," he said before answering. "Hey, guys."

"Hi, Kurt!" Burt and Carole said at the same time. Kurt grinned. "What's up?"

"We just thought we'd call you before your first class," Burt said. "Good luck, kid."

"Good luck! Oh, and I think we've gotten the hang of The Skype now," Carole announced. "Maybe we can talk tonight."

"That would be awesome! I'd love to tell you everything."

"We'll talk to you later then, okay?" Burt said. "Have fun. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

Kurt laughed. "I won't. Thanks. I'll see you later."

"Bye!" Rachel shouted into Kurt's phone from the other side of the counter. His parents said goodbye to both of them and he hung up.

He looked at the clock to see that it was nine-fifteen. His class was at ten o' clock. "I should get going," Kurt said, finishing his cereal and picking up the messenger bag he had bought on Fifth Avenue. "Wish me luck!"

"Good luck! And have fun!" Rachel told him. He said goodbye over his shoulder before closing the door behind him.

* * *

Half an hour later, Kurt found his Intro to Fashion Industry class. He had taken a seat in the middle rows of the room to try to blend in. He looked around the room to see the other students; at least two thirds of the class were women, to no surprise. A young man around Kurt's age took a seat two chairs to his left. He had short, almost bleach blonde hair, and wore a dark green button-down shirt. He set his bag down at his feet and started tapping his pen on his notebook.

He must have felt eyes on him, because he looked up and striking emerald eyes met Kurt's. Turning pink, Kurt looked away as fast as he could, instead pretending to be busy on his phone. When he looked up again, however, he could still see the man staring at him in the corner of his eye.

Kurt turned his head to look at him again. He had to admit, he was attractive. His eyes were as green as the leaves on the hundreds of trees in Central Park. His lips were turned up in a half-smile, almost a smirk, but not quite.

"I-I'm sorry," he stuttered when he was caught, shaking his head as if to snap himself out of some sort of trance. "I'm just...it's been a crazy morning. I'm just tired. But, uh, I'm Andrew."

"Kurt," he replied. "Nice to meet you. What's your major?"

"Visual Communications. Yours?" Andrew raised his eyebrows questioningly.

"Design." He searched for something else to say to keep the conversation going and found himself telling Andrew, "I kept changing my mind between design and theater. I auditioned for this school in the city but I didn't get in, and I realized that fashion was what I really wanted to work with. I've loved it every since I was little."

"That's cool," Andrew said. "Until my senior year of high school, I've wanted to be a lawyer. It's sort of the family business. But then I realized all the work it would be, and none of it seemed really...enjoyable. Fashion has always just been a hobby, but until then I never really thought I could do something with it for a living."

"So we were both kind of last-minute, huh?" Kurt grinned. "I live with my best friend, and she's wanted to perform her entire life. She got into the school I auditioned for, the New York Academy of the Dramatic Arts, if you've heard of it. But anyways, I've always been kind of jealous that she never really doubted herself or questioned what she wanted to do. She's talented, and she's always been completely confident that she wanted to perform for a living."

"I think I have heard of that school, actually. It must have sucked for you to get rejected and her to get in."

"Not really. I mean, I really thought I had a chance of getting accepted, because I'd killed my audition. But I'm happy for her. She deserves it more than anyone."

"Aw, that's sweet, that you're so supportive."

"Yeah, well, we've known each other since our freshman year of high school. We were in glee club together for all four years." With a chuckle he added, "That's not to say we _liked _each other for all four years."

Andrew laughed and Kurt asked him, "Where are you from?"

"I'm a New Yorker, born and raised."

"Really? I've wanted to move to New York for forever. It's always been my dream. We just moved in about three weeks ago, so we're still trying to adjust to everything. This city is crazy, but I love it."

"You're right about that." He smiled at Kurt, and just then the professor walked into the room. She was a middle-aged, stern-looking woman with glasses and short red hair. She walked to her desk, clicked around on her laptop, and the title page of a Powerpoint presentation appeared on the projector screen. It stated that her name was Professor Tyler.

"Let me start off this class by guessing that most of you, if not all of you, are here with the hopes of becoming the 'next big thing' in the fashion industry."

Kurt sat up straighter, ready to take any advice the professor was going to give them.

"Well, let me tell you something: it is extremely unlikely that that is going to happen."

Kurt's heart sunk at the words. He was bewildered. What was she talking about? Weren't professors supposed to help you be successful, not encourage you to give up all of your hopes and dreams? He noticed that the other students around the room looked around at each other confusingly.

"I'm telling you this simply because, while it may be hard to accept, it's the truth. Not everyone can be a movie star or the President of the United States, and much like that, not everyone can be a fashion designer or a stylist. Not a very well-known one, anyways. It's that simple. However, the reason I am here to teach you today and for the next two semesters is to prepare you as much as I can for the rest of your college and career lives."

Andrew leaned over to whisper, "How inspiring." Kurt chuckled, but he was actually starting to feel discouraged by the woman's words, mostly because he understood what she meant and realized it was probably true. Not everyone who went to design school became the next Vera Wang. The question he asked himself was, what made him different from everyone else? Why would he succeed when none of the others did? There were probably people in the room who were more talented than him. Why did he think he would be special, especially in a city like this? Maybe he _was_ in over his head.

As the professor went on and on about how only the very best become known in the fashion industry, Kurt began to feel more and more discouraged, knowing that he'd set his expectations for himself too high.

When the class was over, Kurt started to assemble his things. "What a bitch," Andrew said to him about the professor.

"She's probably right," Kurt said, feeling defeated. "It's depressing, but true."

"I don't think so. I think that a lot people doubt themselves too much and don't know what they're fully capable of, so they never really bother to try in the first place. I believe anything's possible with hard work."

Kurt took a moment to think about his words. He still wasn't convinced. "I don't know. All I know is that we're in for one hell of a year."

"Now that's something I can agree with you on," Andrew said. "I've gotta run to my next class. See you later, Kurt." He waved goodbye.

"Bye," Kurt said, slinging his bag over his shoulder. The class wasn't a good start to his first day of college, but he hoped the rest of them would be better.

* * *

He was right. While he could tell he probably won't love one or two of his classes, none of them were as bad as Intro to Fashion Industry. His Fashion Figure Drawing class was his favorite so far; the professor kept cracking jokes and making fashion puns throughout the entire class. In the end, Kurt supposed it wasn't a bad thing to get the worst class over at the beginning of the day.

He also met a few more people; a woman named Lindsay from his writing class, a man named Matt from his art class, and another woman, Alyssa, whom he'd met in line when he was getting lunch.

When he got home, he was ready to fall into his bed and take a nap. However, he knew that wasn't going to happen when Rachel started bombarding him with questions.

"How was it? Did everything go okay? Did you make any friends? How are your classes?"

"Whoa. Hold on. One question at a time. First, it was okay, for the most part. The day started off with my Intro to Fashion Industry teacher crushing all my hopes and dreams, but after that it went pretty well."

"What do you mean?"

"She told us how we're all probably going to be failures and nobodies for our entire lives, but she is going to try to make us successful. I don't get it. The entire hour was spent throwing all of our dreams down the drain."

"That's terrible. I hope you didn't actually _listen_ to that woman." When Kurt was silent, she continued, "Kurt. Seriously. Screw that woman. You're a star and you know it. Don't you dare let yourself or anyone else tell you otherwise."

Kurt pretended to be convinced by Rachel's words. "Thanks. I needed that."

"Did you make any friends?"

"Yeah, about a handful, I guess. The only person who actually said more than a few sentences to me was this guy in my Intro to Fashion Industry class, the one with the bitchy professor. He was nice. We talked about New York and our careers and stuff."

"What's his name? We should invite him over for dinner. Ooh, is he gay?"

"His name is Andrew, and maybe in a few weeks. And I don't know if he's gay. Why does it matter?"

"It doesn't. I was just curious."

Rachel was apparently out of questions then, so Kurt asked, "What's for dinner?"

"I don't know. I haven't thought about it; I'm not hungry. You?"

"A little. All that self-loathing has made me hungry."

"We can order take-out."

"Sounds good to me. Can you find a place? I have homework to do."

"Already? It's your first day."

"Just a sketch for one of my classes. He wants to see what we can do, I guess."

Rachel left to call the restaurant, and Kurt looked at the blank paper in front of him. What could he draw to show the professor all that he can do?

He thought about what Andrew had said to him. _I think that a lot people doubt themselves too much and don't know what they're fully capable of, so they never really bother to try in the first place. I believe anything's possible with hard work._ Suddenly, he was struck by a wave of inspiration. He moved his pencil along the paper, creating the outline of a body. Time flew, and before he knew it, the take-out arrived and he was almost done sketching what could either be a prom or wedding dress, depending on the color and how you looked at it. Maybe Andrew was right after all.

Rachel peeked at it as she set the food down on the coffee table. "See? That's amazing." He handed him his food. "Ten or so years from now, you're going to prove that bitch of a professor wrong. You'll see."

This time, Kurt actually believed Rachel. She was right. He couldn't wait to show his professors what he was capable of.

* * *

Later that night, Kurt called Blaine on Skype, sitting at the counter island and finishing off a small bag of pretzels.

"How was it?" Blaine asked right away.

"Good evening to you, too," Kurt replied. He looked at the space behind Blaine. He sat in front of a tan wall with a familiar square window. After a moment of confusion, Kurt finally recognized where his boyfriend was sitting. "Wait, are you in my room?"

"Mhm. Your parents want to talk to you on Skype but they said that I can talk to you first so I came up here. Now, how was it?"

Kurt launched into recounting his stories about his first day, repeating to him everything he had told Rachel. "What a bitch," he commented when he heard about his discouraging professor. He made a face when he told him about Andrew, but Kurt assured him that he was just a friend—if he could even call him _that._

"Well, I'm glad you're making friends. As long as you don't forget about your lonely little boyfriend in Ohio..." he mock-pouted.

"Oh, please. Any gay man here would be jealous of _me_ having a boyfriend like _you._" Kurt flirted.

"Speaking of me being an amazing boyfriend—"

Kurt laughed. "Don't get a big head now."

"I'll try." Blaine grinned at the camera. "Anyways, I have something for you."

"Another gift? Blaine—"

"Shush, you," Blaine waved him off. "Just listen." He set his laptop on a table and bent down. When he came back on the screen, he was holding a guitar in his lap. A smile began to spread across Kurt's face as he began to play. After a few seconds, he recognized the song, and Blaine began to sing.

_Hey there, Kurt Hummel_

_What's it like in New York City?_

_I'm a thousand miles away, but boy, tonight you look so pretty_

_Yes, you do_

_Times Square can't shine as bright as you, I swear it's true_

Tears threatened to spill over, but Kurt managed to hold them back for the time being. Blaine looked directly into the camera as he sang, and Kurt imagined that he was singing and strumming his guitar just a few feet away from him, rather than hundreds of miles away.

_Hey there, Kurt Hummel_

_Don't you worry about the distance_

_I'm right there if you get lonely, give this song another listen_

_Close your eyes_

_Listen to my voice, it's my disguise_

_I'm by your side_

_Oh, it's what you do to me_

_Oh, it's what you do to me..._

As he continued to sing through the chorus, Kurt shed a tear. He longed to hear Blaine's soft, loving voice in person, not through a pixelated webcam.

_A thousand miles seems pretty far,_

_But they've got planes and trains and cars_

_I'd walk to you if I had no other way_

_Kurt Hummel, I can promise you that by the time that we get throughout_

_The world will never, ever be the same_

_And you're to blame_

He sang the rest of the song, and Kurt couldn't help but notice that his eyes were glistening as they stared into the camera. After he strummed the last chords, Kurt clapped and wiped away tears when Blaine wasn't looking. "That was...amazing," he said. "Thank you so much, Blaine."

"It's nothing. I just wanted to do something to tell you how much I missed you, but I couldn't find the words. So I found that song, and changed the lyrics a little bit..."

"I don't deserve you. I really don't. I...just..." He stumbled over his words. "Thank you. I love you so much."

"I love you, too. I know I just saw you yesterday but I already miss you."

Was it just yesterday that Blaine was in his arms as they said their tearful goodbyes? To Kurt, it felt like it was an eternity ago. "Me, too. Rachel and I were talking about how empty the place seems without everyone. It feels weird."

"I know. We're already counting down the days until Thanksgiving. I'm gonna go bring you down to your parents, okay? I think they're getting antsy." He grinned.

"Yes! I'm so excited to talk to them."

Blaine stood and picked up his laptop. Kurt heard various shuffling noises as he went down the stairs, and then he heard his dad say, "There he is! Is he on there?" Blaine replied, "Yup, here he is," and set the computer on the kitchen table. He saw his parents, and then Finn rushed behind them and stood next to Blaine. "Hi, Kurt!" They all shouted at the same time.

"Hey, guys! It's so great to see you again. I've missed you so much."

"We've missed you too," Carole said. "How was your first day of college?"

"Ah, it had its ups and downs..." and with that, he told the stories of his Intro to Design Industry professor and the friends he had made and his other classes for the third time that day.

When he was finished, Carole said, "It sounds so exciting!"

"It has definitely been...interesting," Kurt replied.

"And it's nice to see that you're making friends," Burt said. "They're the most important part of college. Well, I mean, academics are important, but the friends you make in college you'll keep for a lifetime, mark my words."

"Thanks, Dad. How are things over there?"

"Oh, boring. You know, same old, same old."

"Blaine, when do McKinley's classes start?" Kurt asked.

"Wednesday. Why?"

"Just tell the New Directions and Mr. Schue that Rachel and I say hi and that we really miss them."

"I will. Tina misses you both, too. She said she even misses Rachel." Blaine smiled.

"I'll pass the message along," Kurt replied. "I just miss them all so much. I wish I could see everyone."

"Oh, they're already making arrangements for a New Directions reunion party right before Thanksgiving. Quinn, Mercedes and Mike are flying in, too. We're not sure about Puck yet."

Kurt jumped in his seat. "Oh my God, really? Tell them we'll be there. I can't wait."

"Where's Rachel?" Finn asked.

"I think she's in her room," Kurt said. "Hold on." He slid off of the stool he had been sitting on and ran into Rachel's room, where she was reading a book. "I'm talking to everyone on Skype, including Finn. He's asking about you. Come on."

Rachel squealed as she quickly placed a bookmark in her book and jumped out of bed. In an instant, she was in front of Kurt's laptop. "Hi, everyone!"

"Hey, Rach!" Finn said, and the rest of the family greeted her.

"How's it goin'?" Burt asked her. "I hope Kurt isn't driving you too far up the wall."

Rachel giggled. "No, Mr. Hummel, Kurt's great. I'm happy to have someone to keep me company."

Kurt caught up with her then and took a seat next to her. "Yeah, she's not too bad of a housemate, either." He elbowed Rachel playfully. "There's a New Directions reunion party before Thanksgiving. Everyone's gonna be there," he informed her.

"I'd be happy to attend," she said. "I would love to see how everyone's doing. I've barely spoken to anyone since graduation, and it's kind of depressing."

"So what have you been up to, Rach?" Blaine asked.

"Nothing, really. Today was pretty boring without Kurt around. I had nothing to do but read and watch TV. Mrs. Hummel, did you start that book yet?"

"I did! I'm only on chapter four, though. I love it so far."

"It gets really great around the middle. Just wait."

"I'll let you know when I finish it."

"Dad, how is work going?"

"Alright. It's a bit busy, but I'm still getting used to it."

"The congressmen here in New York are much more boring than Ohio's," Kurt joked, as if he knew a thing about politics outside of Ohio.

"I can imagine," Burt laughed.

Kurt looked at the clock. "It's getting late and I have a long day tomorrow. First day of work," he said. "I should get to bed. I'll talk to you guys later, okay?"

"Sure, buddy," his father said.

"Rachel, do you want to stay on?" Kurt asked her.

"Nah, I should probably go to bed too. Night, everyone!" She waved to them and headed back to her bedroom.

"Good night, guys," Kurt said to his family. "Love you."

"Love you, too," they all said in return, and Kurt ended the call. After seeing Blaine, Finn, and his parents, he felt a little bit better about school. He was starting to feel a lot more optimistic about everything. No way was he going to let himself end up being completely worthless and unsuccessful. He would prove them wrong.

* * *

The next day went more smoothly. It turned out, to Kurt's surprise, the people he had met yesterday actually wanted to be his friend. He spoke to Andrew again and told him that he may have been right after all, referring to what he told him the day before.

"I'm glad you have seen the light," he replied, and Kurt laughed. "I really am starting to feel better about everything, though. Like, screw that woman. She'll be sorry when she sees my designs everywhere five or ten or however many years from now."

"That's the spirit. Hey, I was wondering, can I have your number?"

"Oh, um, sure." Why not? Andrew was the closest thing to a friend he had in New York, with the exception of Rachel. It would be nice to have someone else to talk to. They exchanged numbers, and then class started. Kurt decided not to focus his full attention on it. He'd learn the material and pass the final, but he didn't need to listen to the professor's negativity for the entire hour.

Today, however, she spent much less time discouraging them and more time doing her job and teaching. The class opened their books and took in the information that was presented to them. Kurt found that although the teacher may not be enjoyable, the class wasn't half bad. It was even kind of interesting.

He only had two classes that day, so he got home early. "I have good news," Rachel said as soon as he walked in the door. Before Kurt could ask, she blurted, "I got the job!"

"Aah! Congratulations!" he hugged her.

"And the best part is, I get an employee discount, so it'll definitely come in handy if I ever need anything for NYADA. This is, like, the best job ever."

"What are you going to be doing?"

"Oh, I'll just be a cashier. But Kurt. _Employee discount._"

"I'm so happy for you. We should celebrate. Let's go out for lunch."

"Sure! Where?"

"We can just walk around until we find a place. Let's go." He dropped his bag on the floor and went back out the door with an excited Rachel trailing behind him.

"So I work Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, starting Thursday for minimum wage. I don't even think the place is that busy so I basically just spend all day looking through all of the boxes and shelves of different artists and musicals and get paid for it. It's the best thing ever."

Whenever something excited Rachel, she tended to ramble on and on about it, and over the years Kurt learned that sometimes it's best to just smile and nod without commenting. This was one of those times. Throughout the elevator ride and the walk to the front door, she hardly even took a breath.

When she was done, she was silent for a few moments. Then she asked calmly, as if her short episode of rambling had never happened, "So how was your morning?"

"It was good. I talked to the same people I did yesterday, so I guess we're kind of friends."

"What about that guy you were talking about...what was his name?"

"Andrew? Yeah, I talked to him again. I told him I was feeling more optimistic today, which I am. That's it. Why are you so interested in him?"

"He seems like an...interesting guy."

Kurt ignored the comment, unsure what Rachel meant by it. He let it slide and changed the subject. "What about this place coming up?" He pointed to a sandwich shop a few buildings ahead.

"That looks good," Rachel replied. "Let's try it out." They walked into the restaurant and found an empty table. The food was cheap, to their relief. When a waiter came around to take their order, Rachel ordered a veggie burger and Kurt got a simple ham and cheese sandwich.

Their food came about ten minutes later, and while they ate they chatted about college, work, TV, celebrities, and just about everything else under the sun. It was a very good day for both of them; now that they had jobs and were starting school, things were starting to feel normal for the first time since they'd moved.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter, but the next one is big. And I have good news - I finished writing the entire story last night! The chapters will probably come every day/every other day now. Thanks for reading! :)**

* * *

The next week passed in a blur. Kurt was buried in work, from sewing to drawing to studying. He still talked to Andrew every day he had his Intro to Design Industry class, and every now and then they texted each other for homework help or the other boy's opinion on something. They also spent a good amount of time complaining about Professor Tyler and her class.

Rachel also started her classes at NYADA, and while it was hard work, she loved the challenge (but hated the fact that it was full of people who were more talented than her).

Tuesday was Kurt's first day at work. He got home earlier again to find that Rachel had made soup for them both. "You should stop by when I'm at work tonight," Kurt told her. "We can have coffee on my break, and I can use my discount."

"Aww, our first coffee date in New York. I'll be there."

Kurt couldn't help but feel heartsick at the phrase _coffee date. _He thought back to the day he left for New York. "One last coffee date," Blaine had said to him. It was almost unhealthy, how much he missed his boyfriend. It had only been three days since they'd last seen each other. They still Skyped each night and told each other about their day. Kurt even convinced Blaine to send him a download for the song he had sung to him the week before. Blaine's voice had been stuck in his head ever since—not that he minded, of course.

He and Rachel ate in silence and watched TV until Kurt had to get ready. It only took about five minutes, since his uniform was simple: just a black t-shirt with the cafe's logo on it with jeans.

His shift started at five o' clock, and he arrived at four fifty-five to see that Martha was waiting behind the counter for him. "Good evening, Kurt! Ready for your first day?"

"Hi!" He greeted her and then asked eagerly, "What do I do first?"

Martha smiled and said, "Now that's what I like to see. Come back here." She pulled an apron from a row of hooks on the wall. "This is yours. They're not really assigned, just pull one off of a hook when you come in. But there's yours for today."

He pulled it over his head and worked on tying it in the back. Martha explained that for at least the first few weeks, he'll only be a cashier, and only when she thinks he's ready will she teach him to make drinks. She taught him how to use the cash register, which buttons to push for each command, and left him to his own devices.

The cafe's busiest hours were in the morning, so business were kind of slow for his shift. The first order he took had him fumbling around the keys of the register, trying to punch in the right commands; iced mocha, no whipped cream, extra espresso shot. After taking a handful of customers' orders, though, he got the hang of it.

About an hour into his shift, Rachel walked in. "How does it feel, being a working man?"

"It's actually pretty easy. All I have to do is push a few buttons and my job is done."

"Oh, man, so you can't teach me how to make my own espresso drinks instead of paying five bucks for them every day? This is the last straw. Our friendship is over."

"I knew you only loved me for my coffee discount."

Just then, someone walked into the cafe. Andrew. Kurt was shocked to see him here, although he probably shouldn't be. Of course he lived in the West Village; it was fifteen minutes away from NYU. But Kurt had never seen him around before.

"Kurt! I didn't know you worked here!" he said, walking up to the counter.

"It's my first day," Kurt replied. "Andrew, this is my best friend and roommate, Rachel Berry." He gestured toward her, and Andrew shook her hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Andrew, I'm in Kurt's Intro to Design class."

"It's great to meet you, too," Rachel said cheerfully. "Kurt's told me a lot about you."

"He has? Hopefully only good things," Andrew quipped, smirking at Kurt. "Now that I know you work here, I may have to stop by more often." Rachel shifted her gaze between the two of them.

Kurt said, "I was just about to go on my break. What can I get for you guys?" He took both of their orders and then punched in his own. Kurt reached into his back pocket for his wallet, but Andrew waved it away. "It's on me." He handed him a twenty dollar bill and Kurt gave him the change, thanking him. He told the barista making the drinks that he was going on his break. While Andrew had went to the other side of the room to wait for his drink, Rachel was waiting for Kurt. "Are you kidding me?" she said as soon as he was standing by her. "He is totally gay. And he's definitely into you."

"Seriously, Rachel? No. Well, maybe about the gay part. But he's not into me."

"Kurt Hummel, have you gone blind? He's practically batting his eyelashes at you. And he bought you coffee."

"He bought _us_ coffee," Kurt corrected her. "He was just being nice."

"And trying to get into your pants."

"Rachel!"

"It's true! Just wait and see," she said, walking over to get her drink. Kurt quietly followed her.

The three of them found an empty table and sat down. "So, Andrew," Rachel said, and Kurt sighed. "Where are you from?"

From there on out, it was an interrogation session. Kurt became more and more humiliated as Rachel asked more questions:

"What's your major?"

"Visual Communications."

"Do you live around here?"

"Yeah, about a mile away. It's great being so close to college that you can just walk there."

"Do you have any hobbies?"

"Um...I read a lot. And I'm working on painting."

"What do you want to do when you're older?"

"Right now I want to be a stylist. You know, for fashion shows and that kind of stuff."

"Who's your favorite music artist?"

"Oh, I could never choose. There's too many. I seriously just love all kinds of music."

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Kurt kicked Rachel under her seat at the last question; Rachel simply moved her legs away. Andrew snickered. "Um, no, I don't. I'm gay."

This time, it was Rachel who kicked Kurt, as if she were saying "told you so." Kurt's face turned an ever deeper shade of red, if it were even possible. However, finding out the answer to her burning question didn't stop Rachel. "Oh, that's nice. So do you have a boyfriend then, or...?"

"No, I don't." He nervously shifted his eyes between Rachel and Kurt. Kurt held his breath, not wanting to know what Rachel's next question was. Luckily, though, she looked at her phone and said, "I should get going. I don't want to keep you from work too long." She smiled at Kurt. "It was so nice meeting you, Andrew. I hope we can hang out again sometime!"

"Definitely," he said in reply. "I'll see you later." He waved goodbye and Kurt launched into a stream of apologies. "I'm so sorry. She's not usually like that, I swear. I don't know what was up with her. I'm really, really sorry."

"Oh, no, it's fine," Andrew said. "I get it. I have an older sister, and she's the same way."

"Probably not that intense, though."

Andrew shook his head reluctantly. "No, not really, to be honest." He laughed, and so did Kurt.

"Well, I'm sorry. And I should get back to work. Don't wanna get in trouble on the first day."

"Of course not." He stood up. "See you in class, Kurt."

"Bye," Kurt waved to him as he returned to his position behind the register, thinking of what he was going to say to Rachel when he got home.

* * *

Kurt was ready to go to bed when he got home, but he had an essay to write. He sat himself down at their small dining table and opened his planner to see what he needed to do. At that moment, Rachel walked into the room.

"What were you thinking?" Kurt asked her.

"What?"

"I get that you want to look out for me and everything, but you didn't have to interrogate the guy."

"I just wanted to find out what he was all about. He likes you."

"Yeah, as a friend. He doesn't_ like_ like me."

"What, are we in kindergarten? Kurt, you can't lead him on."

"I'm not leading him on."

"Well, it doesn't seem like he gets it. Does he know you have a boyfriend?"

"No."

"_Kurt!"_

"It's never came up! What do you want me to do, see him in class and be like, 'Good morning. I have a boyfriend. How's you day going?'"

"It doesn't matter how you bring it up. He needs to know before he tries to put the moves on you."

"Alright. Fine. I'll call him tomorrow."

"You have his number?!" she practically shrieked. "Kurt!"

"So what? He asked for it this morning and I—" He froze. "Oh God, what have I done?" It finally sunk in; once again, Rachel was right. He _was_ leading Andrew on. Giving him his number, not telling him about Blaine, letting him buy him coffee..."I've only known the guy for a week. He can't be that interested in me."

Rachel's voice softened when she found that Kurt was finally coming to his senses. "You'd be surprised. I knew I liked Finn the first time I saw him."

"Thanks, Rachel. I feel a lot better now," Kurt said sarcastically.

"Sorry, but it's true. I'm not gonna sugar-coat it. You just need to talk to him and tell him how it is."

"Fine." He sighed. "I'll talk to him tomorrow."

"Good," Rachel said. "Now, what do you want for dinner?" And the conversation continued as if their fight had never happened.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning, Blaine woke up at six o' clock ready to tackle the day. He had made sure to go to sleep early the night before in the hopes that it would keep him from feeling groggy in the morning, and it seemed like it had worked.

It was his first day as a high school senior, and he was excited to see what McKinley had in store for him this year. It would be different without Kurt and last year's other seniors there, but he hoped the glee club would adjust soon enough. They needed to recruit a lot more members this year if they wanted to qualify for their competitions, so somehow they had to convince some of the other students to join. Over the summer, the new seniors had spent a lot of time brainstorming ideas. Sam suggested that they aim to recruit more freshmen, since they can stay all four years. Everyone seemed to agree on it, and they decided to bring the idea to Mr. Schue on the first day of school.

It felt strange not going to pick up Kurt on his way to school, since they usually carpooled. It was just another thing he would have to get used to. He wondered how different this year was going to be. Last year, it seemed like the seniors were the leaders of the glee club, and now the class of 2013 wasn't really sure what to do. They supposed they could just go with the flow and see how things went.

Blaine walked into school and put his things in his locker, where a picture of him and Kurt in Chicago from nationals still hung from last year. He felt a twinge of sadness at the sight of the picture; this was his first day at McKinley without Kurt. It didn't feel right. After all, if it weren't for Kurt, he would have never even transferred. He had his boyfriend to thank for all of the close friendships he had developed with everyone in glee.

His phone vibrated. _Have fun today,_ a text from Kurt said. _Tell ND I say hi. I love you. xx_

Blaine sent a reply, grabbed the books he needed for first period, and made his way to the choir room, where Sugar, Rory, and Brittany were talking. They smiled when they saw him, pulling another chair into their circle. He took a seat and listened to Rory's stories about his first summer in America.

Within the next ten minutes the rest of the club members arrived, and as always, Mr. Schue walked in half an hour before first period. Blaine looked around the room; there were only seven of them. It felt so empty with all of the vacant chairs lying around.

"Good morning, guys!" Mr. Schue greeted them, and they said hello in return. "I hope you all had a great summer. Not having the older members around is gonna take some getting used to, but we really need to work on recruiting at least five new members before sectionals. Let's get brainstorming!"

"Mr. Schue, we thought of some really cool ideas over the summer," Rory said.

"Oh, awesome! It's great to see you guys so enthusiastic about this. Let's hear what you've got." He picked up the dry erase marker and started scribbling the words "RECRUIT NEW MEMBERS" on the whiteboard.

Sam said, "I was saying that we should consider trying to recruit mostly freshmen or sophomores instead of juniors or seniors so we'll have more members for a longer period of time."

"Okay. Good." The teacher wrote "younger audience" on the board. "Anything else?"

"This kind of connects to Sam's suggestion," Blaine said, "but I was thinking that if we want to appeal to the students, especially the younger ones, it might be better to start doing more modern, top forty music instead of show tunes."

"I was just thinking that. Thanks, Blaine." He added the suggestion to the board. "Brittany?"

"I think we should have a week dedicated to songs about cats. In this modern world dogs are favored more and we should do something to stop the prejudice. I think that may be part of the reason why I can't get Mr. Tubbington to stop smoking."

The choir room was silent; Rory gave her the strangest look. Mr. Schue reluctantly added "cats" to the list. With a sigh he said, "Does anyone have anything else?"

When no one else spoke up, he looked back at the list they had made. "Uh...I think we're going to focus on the first two for now. We'll see if we can put your suggestion to use later, Brittany."

"See? Cat prejudice. It happens every day right in front of us and we don't do anything about it."

"Now for song suggestions. Like Blaine said, top forty would be best for recruiting members."

The club members wasted no time shouting out their suggestions.

"Call Me Maybe!" from Sugar.

"I like Glad You Came by The Wanted," Blaine said, and Sam seconded him.

"To be honest, most of the top forty songs these days are kind of terrible," Artie said.

"I agree," Tina said.

"Oh! We should do something from Fifty Shades of Grey. I love that album." Again, the room went quiet at Brittany's suggestion. "What?" Blaine looked at Tina next to him, and she just shrugged.

"Uh, Britt...that's not an album," Sam whispered to her.

"Yes it is," she insisted. "Santana made me listen to it over summer break."

"Oh my_ God._" Tina put her head in her hands, Artie just shook his head, and Mr. Schue pretended that none of it happened.

"Okay, so far we have Call Me Maybe—"

"Sorry, but no way," Artie interrupted.

"or Glad You Came. How about we take a vote?" The latter song won. "Great," he said. "We got a lot done today and it's only the first day. We'll start practicing tomorrow; you can just talk amongst yourselves until first period. It's so great to see you all again." He waved goodbye and went to his office, and the members of the glee club spent the next ten minutes catching up with each other as if they hadn't been hanging out all summer. When they asked about Kurt and Rachel, Blaine filled them in about his visit there and how nice their apartment is and how they're doing and that they're in for the reunion party and everything else he had heard from Kurt. The glee club was happy for them, and Blaine was happy to see how much everyone still cared about last year's senior class.

* * *

That same day, Kurt texted Andrew after breakfast. _Hey. Do you have any classes today?_

He replied, _Not until two. Why?_

_Can you meet me at Washington Square at eleven? By the big arch?_

_Sure! I'll be there._

Kurt took a deep breath and set his phone on the counter. He hoped Andrew would still want to be friends even though Kurt didn't want to be with him romantically. Or would things become too awkward for that?

He got dressed and headed out the door, although he was an hour early. He figured he could just walk around for a while to clear his head and prepare what he was going to say. His heart raced as he walked. Besides Rachel, Andrew was the closest thing he had to a friend here. If Kurt lost him, he would be left with almost no one, just as he had started.

He checked his watch constantly although it was only ten-thirty. At ten fifty-three, he saw Andrew walking towards him, wearing a blue t-shirt and khaki shorts. Kurt smiled at him as he got closer.

"Hi, An—" he had started to say, but he was interrupted by Andrew's lips on his and his hands on Kurt's face. At first, Kurt was frozen; he had no idea what to do, and it had all happened so quickly it took a moment until it sunk in that _Andrew was kissing him. _When it did, he wasn't sure how much time had passed, but he was still kissing Kurt although he wasn't returning the gesture. Andrew's lips were cold and dry, the exact opposite of Blaine's. _Blaine._ Finally, Kurt realized what was happening and pushed Andrew away, leaving about three feet between them. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Kurt, I—"

"Stop." He held up a finger to silence him. He already felt tears coming, and his chest heaved with breathlessness—whether it was from the kiss or shock, Kurt didn't know. "I...I have a boyfriend. Back in Ohio. And it's not your fault because I never told you even though I should have, but I do. So this—" He gestured wildly between the two of them. "can't happen." He was shaking, and his heart was pounding so hard it felt like it was going to burst out of his chest.

He looked up at Andrew to see that his face had turned pale and his eyes were shining with unshed tears. "I'm so sorry, I don't—" he started, but Kurt didn't let him finish.

"I can't do this." With nothing left to say, he turned and walked away, finally letting tears spill over. The next thing he knew he was sobbing, and he knew he needed to get out of Andrew's view in case he was still watching him walk away. He didn't dare turn around to check; he didn't want Andrew to see him crying, and Kurt didn't want to see the look on his face again. He turned the corner and kept walking, unsure of his destination. All he knew was that needed to get away. He felt physically sick, and moments later vomited in a nearby garbage can. He took a seat on the concrete edge of a flower bed and fumbled for his phone in his bag. He couldn't stop shaking, and it took longer than usual for him to find Rachel on his contact list due to the fact that he felt like he couldn't control his fingers. Eventually, he got it and pressed the call button. He wiped his nose and was still weeping when Rachel picked up.

"Kurt?"

"Rachel?" For some reason, saying her name made him realize that the worst had happened, that he had lost Andrew. She was all he had now.

"Kurt, what's wrong? Are you okay?"

"I'm...I don't know," he said with a shaky voice. "Can you come here?"

"Of course, honey. I'm already on the elevator. Where are you?"

"I..." He looked around, trying to figure out his surroundings. "I'm by Washington Square. I'm about a block north of the arch."

"Give me five minutes, okay? I'll be right there. Just...just try to breathe for me. Do you want me to stay on the phone?"

"No, that's okay. Thanks, Rach." He hung up the phone and slid it back in his bag. Back with no one to talk to, he let his mind take over. _I kissed Andrew. Blaine is my boyfriend. I love him._

_I cheated on Blaine._

"Oh my God," he said out loud, and felt queasy again. He twisted around into the flower bed and heaved into the dirt. _I cheated on Blaine. _The phrase repeated itself over and over again in his mind. He put his head in his hands and tried to breathe like Rachel instructed, but he found it difficult and started crying again. How was he supposed to tell him? It was over. He screwed everything up, just like he always did whenever he actually had something good going for him for a change_._ It was his fault; he couldn't blame Andrew for kissing him when he didn't even know he was dating someone.

Even if it was own his fault, though, being kissed without his consent brought back a torrent of horrible memories.

"_What are you so scared of?"_

"_Besides you sneaking in here to peek at my junk?"_

The memories rushed back to him like a tidal wave crashing down onto sand. Once it started, he couldn't stop it.

"_...Do not push me, Hummel."_

"_You gonna hit me? Do it."_

"_Don't push me!"_

"_You are nothing but a scared little boy who can't handle how extraordinarily _ordinary _you are!"_

_Karofsky's hands on his face. His lips on his lips. It all happened fast—yet it seemed to go on for ages. He literally could not move a muscle. Finally Karofsky pulled away, and Kurt was disgusted to see him coming towards him again. He pushed against his chest and shoved him away, taking a few steps back and keeping one hand to his mouth. It felt gross. It was sloppy and wet and disgusting. All Kurt wanted to do was get the horrid taste of him out of his mouth, but no amount of mints or mouthwash could erase the way it felt. It was imprinted in his mind forever._

"Kurt?" The voice shocked him out of the repulsive memory. He looked up to see Rachel sprinting towards him, still dressed in her pajamas with her hair in a messy ponytail. He wiped the tears from his eyes, and she sat next to him and put her arms around him. "Honey, what happened? Are you okay?"

For a reason he wasn't even sure of, this only made him bawl even harder. His breath came in short, sharp gasps and his heart started pounding again. He turned away from Rachel to vomit again. "I'm sorry," he said, embarrassed.

"It's okay, honey. It's okay." Kurt didn't say anything; he only shook his head and buried his face in his hands, still trying to catch his breath. He was beginning to feel a bit light-headed, and when he looked up, the buildings across the street spun around. He tried to stand, but found himself stumbling. Rachel made him sit down again and said "Kurt, I think you might be having a panic attack right now. You need to listen to me." Rachel stood in front of him and put her hands on his shoulders. "You have to try to calm down, okay? I'm here. Everything will be okay. You just need to take deep breaths and try to stop crying."

"He k-kissed me," Kurt blurted shakily. "Andrew kissed me."

Rachel was silent until Kurt heard her whisper, "Oh my God." She sat beside him again and rubbed his back in small circles. "It's all right."

"No, it's not." He sniffled.

"It is. First of all, we need to get you home. It's only about ten minutes away. Come on." She took his hand and, knees wobbling, he stood. Walking and focusing on his breathing calmed him down a bit, and by the time they reached their apartment (which Rachel had left unlocked in the rush to get to Kurt) he had stopped sobbing, although tears still ran down his cheeks. While Kurt sat on the couch, Rachel made him a cup of tea and made him drink from it before cautiously asking him to explain what had happened.

"I texted him saying to meet me in the Square, so we could talk and I could tell him about Blaine." Saying his boyfriend's name made more tears spring to his eyes, but he managed to hold them back. "But he came up to me, and I couldn't even get a word out before he kissed me. I pushed him away and I explained that I had a boyfriend and it wasn't his fault since he didn't know and then I just...left."

"How long did you kiss for?"

"I don't know, like, ten seconds? And I didn't even kiss him back. You'd think he'd get a hint."

"See?_ He _kissed _you._ You didn't kiss him. Sweetie, it's okay. Well, I mean...it's not okay that he kissed you, but you didn't do anything wrong. It was him."

"But we still kissed. It still counts. I cheated on Blaine."

"I'm not sure who can say what counts as cheating, Kurt."

"How am I supposed to tell him? And what do I do when I see Andrew in class tomorrow? What if Blaine breaks up with me? You know, for once I'm actually in love with somebody and I have somebody who loves me but then I have to go and fuck it up. I'm a horrible person. He doesn't deserve me anyways."

"It's not your fault, and you are not a bad person. Don't you dare say that."

"It is!" He rose his voice for a moment. "I didn't tell him that I was dating Blaine. I should have told him."

"Kurt, until last night you didn't even realize he was into you. You can't beat yourself up over this. You can't go back and erase what happened so you just have to figure out what to do about it."

Kurt fell silent, realizing for about the tenth time in the last month that Rachel was right. He couldn't undo the last hour. It happened, and now he had to deal with the consequences.

"Today is the first day of school back at McKinley," Kurt said. "Blaine's probably having a great day. Leave it to his stupid boyfriend to ruin it."

"You're not stupid. I told you, you need to stop beating yourself up about this."

"I can't, Rachel. How would you feel if Finn cheated on you back in Ohio?"

When Rachel didn't reply, Kurt said, "Exactly. That's why I feel like shit right now." He put his fingers to his temples and sighed. All of the crying and everything that had happened in the past hour had given him a massive headache, and his heart didn't feel much better.

"I don't know what to tell you, Kurt. All I can say is that honesty is the best policy, and so you need to tell Blaine what happened. It'll only get worse if you don't."

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and leaned his head against the back of the couch. "Tomorrow."

"Okay. Tomorrow. And you know I'm always here for you if you need anything."

"I know. Thank you so much." He set his cup of tea down on the coffee table to hug Rachel. She was an amazing friend; no matter who left him or turned on him, he knew he would always have Rachel behind him. He was eternally grateful to have her.

They sat in silence until Kurt spoke again. "It was gross."

"I can imagine."

"It...it reminded me of what Karofsky did," he admitted. "Now I keep thinking about it, and...God, I feel like I'm going to be sick again." He clutched his stomach.

"It's okay. Just try to think of something else."

"I can't." He looked up at his best friend, feeling defeated by his past and the memories he had tried so hard to suppress. "I can't, Rachel. I don't think it ever even left my mind after all these years. It just kind of...sat on the side and waited for an opportunity to take center stage again."

"I'm so sorry," Rachel said.

Kurt lay back on the couch, putting his feet on the coffee table (Rachel didn't bother to stop him). "I think I need another movie night. No _Funny Girl._"

Rachel complied, and together they flipped through the movie channels. That night they watched a variety of movies, including _The Breakfast Club, Ghostbusters, Ferris Bueller's Day Off,_ and_ The Shawshank Redemption._ They did a great job at taking his mind off of everything. Well, until Blaine texted Kurt in the middle of _Ferris Bueller_ asking if he was coming on Skype. Kurt told him he was loaded with schoolwork and that he would be online tomorrow. He absolutely hated lying to Blaine. For a minute he considered logging on to his computer and confessing to him that night, but in the end he promised himself that he would tell him the next day.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I'd appreciate it if you could send some good vibes my way today - it's my first day of high school! And just so you know, this story will have twelve chapters and an epilogue. Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading this! :)**

* * *

The next day, Blaine went from being confident about his relationship with Kurt to having doubts. He wasn't sure what brought it on, but he couldn't ignore the questions running through his mind. Could they really do a long-distance relationship for eight more months? It had only been a few months, and it already proved to be much harder than he thought it would be. What if they had overestimated themselves? What if the distance was too much?

There was also a part of him that couldn't help but wonder if he was holding Kurt back from taking advantage of everything New York had to offer. Was he distracting him or keeping from schoolwork when they were talking? In the end, was he just a bother? He couldn't stop thinking about it. What if he was just coming between Kurt and his dreams?

These burning questions kept him from paying attention in school and focusing on his homework. He didn't hear a word Mr. Schue said in glee club. By the end of the day, he seemed to have convinced himself that he was keeping Kurt from realizing his true potential, that he was just taking away Kurt's time that could be used on other, better things. All he wanted was for Kurt to be happy. He wanted him to make friends and do great at school and work to the best of his ability so he can achieve his dreams and be successful, just like he has always wanted.

He went to bed that night still wondering what was _really_ best for Kurt.

* * *

Kurt woke up on the couch, feeling a bit disoriented. As soon as he sat up, Rachel handed him a bowl of oatmeal, and the events of the previous day came back to him in a rush. Andrew kissed him. He cheated on Blaine. Blaine doesn't know. He will by the end of the day. He let out a long sigh. _Right._ "What time is it?" He asked.

"Eight-thirty. You have time."

He remembered breaking down beside the flower bed, and Rachel rushing over to comfort and help him. "Thank you so much for helping me yesterday," he told her. "I seriously don't know what I would have done without you."

"You're welcome. I get it. If I were in your position, I probably would have reacted the same way. Maybe even worse."

Kurt sighed and ate a spoonful of oatmeal. "Today's design class is going to be the most uncomfortable class I'll ever take, I swear."

"You'll get through it. Text me if you need me to come over there and kick somebody's ass."

"Will do." He laughed. "You know, ever since I moved to New York, my life has turned into a soap opera. Or an episode of Degrassi is probably more accurate."

Rachel chuckled but then turned serious. "You _are_ going to tell him tonight, right?"

Kurt nodded sadly, and Rachel said, "It's for the best. I'm sure Blaine would rather have you tell him and be honest than keep it from him. I start work today so I won't be home until ten, but I can stay up if you need to talk."

"I think I'll be okay, but thanks." He finished his oatmeal and carried the bowl to the sink. "I should get ready. I've got a long day ahead of me."

He was showered and dressed in forty-five minutes, and then he was out the door. He was still early, so he took his time walking to NYU. He certainly didn't want to get there early and have to deal with the uncomfortable feeling that was inevitable between him and Andrew.

When he still arrived at the school ten minutes early, he lingered outside. It was probably childish, but the last thing he wanted to do was to go inside and make small talk with the man who had kissed him without his consent not even twenty-four hours ago. While he was waiting, he texted Blaine: _I come home from work at nine. Skype? _Blaine responded,_ Sure. I can't wait to tell you about yesterday._

_Oh, me neither, _Kurt thought dreadfully.

He went into the classroom exactly three minutes before the beginning of class. Andrew wasn't sitting in his usual spot; instead, he sat in the one empty seat that was in the front row, all the way to the left. He turned around in his seat when Kurt entered the room, as if he had been waiting for him to arrive. Kurt took the same seat he had sat in for the last two classes and tried to ignore the other boy's gaze burning a hole into his head. Eventually he turned away when Professor Tyler entered the room, but later in her lecture Kurt saw him turning his head around out of the corner of his eye. Kurt glanced at him, and then quickly refocused on the professor.

After class, Andrew caught him as he was rushing to the door. "Hey, um..." Kurt raised an eyebrow and waited for him to continue. "I just wanted to apologize for what I did yesterday. It doesn't matter that I didn't know you had a boyfriend. It was still wrong. I'm so sorry, and I really hope we can go back to being friends."

Kurt thought over his response for a few moments. He thought of what their friendship would be like if he said okay. He thought of what Andrew would think if he said no, but then he considered what Blaine would think if he said okay, and that made up his mind.

"Thank you," he replied. "I accept your apology, but I honestly think it would be best if we...stopped communicating."

It seemed like it took a few seconds for his words to sink in for Andrew, but once they did he only nodded. "That's fine. I totally understand." He gave Kurt a sad smile. "Thanks, Kurt." He walked past him and out the classroom door.

* * *

The rest of the day went by normally. He was assigned a big project in his Fashion CAD class—he had to design three sets of clothing on their computer software, and it would count for forty percent of his grade. Kurt welcomed the distraction; he was ready for a challenge.

His hours at work passed quickly. Luckily, Andrew didn't stop by again. The entire time, he kept thinking of what he was going to say to Blaine. His heart pounded at the thought that every minute could be a minute closer to Blaine breaking up with him. He found it hard to stay optimistic about the situation.

By the time he got home, he couldn't control his heartbeat. His stomach turned as he signed onto Skype and saw that Blaine was online. With shaking hands, he moved the cursor to call Blaine. Within five seconds, Blaine had accepted the call and his smiling face was on Kurt's computer screen. "Long time, no see," Blaine said.

Kurt couldn't help but feel guilty. "I'm sorry." He was apologizing for many things: not being on Skype, letting Andrew kiss him, breaking his promise to Blaine when he had said that he had nothing to worry about when it came to Andrew.

"I was just kidding. It's fine, really. I have so much to tell you about school."

"Tell me all about it." Kurt tried his best to sound enthusiastic, but he wasn't sure if he was succeeding. Blaine talked his ear off about his classes and the New Directions and how everyone was doing and how much they missed him and Rachel and the new number they were planning to recruit members. It all sounded fantastic; it made Kurt wish he were still a senior.

Twenty minutes later, Blaine was out of stories to tell, and Kurt knew that any moment Blaine would ask how he was doing. He felt like he was going to be sick again, but he forced himself to go through with his promise to himself. "Blaine...there's something I have to tell you."

"What is it, honey?" Kurt almost burst into tears at the pet name—his boyfriend was always so comforting. He had no idea what Kurt was about to tell him.

"I...I was..." His words kept getting caught in his throat.

"Kurt, you're making me nervous—"

"Andrew kissed me," he blurted.

A long silence followed. Kurt tried to count the seconds to calm himself down. _Eleven, twelve, thirteen..._ It only made him feel worse. Blaine's expression tore his heart to shreds. There were no words to describe it. It killed Kurt, knowing that he was the one to cause him to look like that.

"...Blaine?" His boyfriend was looking down, away from the camera. "Blaine, please say something."

When he spoke, Kurt could hardly hear him. His eyes were still cast on his lap. "Did you kiss him back?" There was only one word to describe how he sounded: heartbroken.

"No! No. I swear to God, I didn't. I pushed him away and I told him that I had a boyfriend and that I didn't want to be with him. Then this morning he talked to me and he asked if we could still be friends and I told him no."

Blaine just sighed and went silent again.

"I love you," Kurt said. "I'm so sorry, Blaine. Please tell me you can forgive me."

Several minutes passed, and Blaine still didn't say a word. Kurt didn't try to get him to talk.

Finally, after what seemed like years, he spoke. "Kurt, I've been thinking..." _Oh, God, _Kurt thought. _Here it comes._

"Please don't," Kurt begged, so quietly that he wasn't sure if Blaine heard or not.

"And it's—it's not just because of the kiss. It's not that. It's just that...for the last few days I've been wondering...if we could really do this—this long-distance thing."

Kurt felt like someone had stolen the air from his lungs. Tears spilled over onto his cheeks. This is what he had been dreading the most; his worst nightmare was coming true.

"Blaine, if this is about us not communicating enough, trust me, I can—"

"Baby, you need to listen to me, okay?" Kurt saw tears glistening in Blaine's eyes. "I won't have you sacrifice your school or study time just to talk to me. I'm doing this for you, so that you can go ahead and get your degree and be successful and maybe..." He took a breath. "Maybe after I graduate and move to New York we can talk and see if we can pick up where we left off. I just want the best for you, Kurt, and I really think that right now it would be better if we took a break."

"But...But..." Kurt sputtered, shaking his head in protest. "But I love you."

"I love you, too. I do, more than anything. You know that. But I just think that it might be easier if I don't have to worry about some guy in New York kissing you—"

"That'll never happen again, Blaine. I promise."

"—Or you don't have to worry about me over here in Lima."

"So you're breaking up with me." More tears spilled as he said the words he never thought he'd hear in relation to him and Blaine.

"Just until I graduate."

"In..." Kurt counted the time. "Eight months."

"I know it seems like a long time, but it'll go by fast."

"Right," he said sarcastically.

"Please don't be bitter. I still care about you and I still love you. I just think that you could concentrate more on your schoolwork if we weren't...together. You have to understand."

"I do," Kurt admitted. "I just hate it."

"Just promise me you'll try to not let this hold you back. You need to go out, experience new things, meet new people. You live in New York, for God's sake."

Kurt nodded and blinked hard to try to hold back the torrent of tears forming in his eyes. "I promise."

"Thank you. It's not going to be easy, but we'll both get through it." His face looked sincere, as if he wished things could be different. _They could be, _Kurt wanted to say to him. _You don't have to do this._ "I'm going to go now, okay?"

"When am I going to talk to you again?"

Blaine raised his eyebrows, as if he hadn't considered the question. "Um...at the New Directions' party, I guess."

That was over two months away. Two months without hearing his voice or his laugh that Kurt adored so much. Two months without hearing his lovely booming laugh. He didn't think he could bear it. He had to try, though, just as he had promised.

"See you then." Kurt's voice sounded fragile, as if it would break if you pushed it too hard. Blaine smiled sadly and said goodbye. At the last minute, Kurt added, "I love you," but Blaine had already disconnected the call.

Emotionally exhausted, Kurt shut his laptop and went into the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror. There were bags under his red-rimmed eyes (for obvious reasons, he didn't sleep well the night before), and his hair was pointing in every which way. He couldn't be bothered to care. Why did he care about how he looked so much? Who was he trying to impress? He didn't matter to anyone. He didn't matter back in Lima, and he sure as hell didn't matter in New York City.

He walked out of the bathroom and went to bed with a broken heart that only one person knew how to repair. He wasn't sure how long he lay there, doing nothing but staring at the ceiling. He was done crying and feeling sorry for himself. Now, he didn't know what to feel. He was numb.

He heard the front door open and knew Rachel was home from work. She lightly knocked on his closed bedroom door. "Kurt?"

Kurt didn't reply; instead he pulled the covers over his head and fell asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

The next morning, Blaine woke up after only two hours of sleep. He had been tossing and turning all night, wondering if he did the right thing by telling Kurt they needed to "take a break." The look on Kurt's face when they spoke last night made Blaine's heart crumble to pieces. He felt incredibly guilty, and found himself worrying about Kurt throughout the entire day. What was he doing right now? Was he okay? All day he felt on edge, as if he were waiting for something terrible to happen, although he knew that the worst had already passed. When his friends talked to him at lunch, he barely listened, and only joined in the conversation when it was absolutely necessary. The glee club meeting came and went, and if you asked, Blaine wouldn't be able to tell you what happened in those twenty minutes. After the meeting, Sam came up to Blaine. "Hey, man, is everything okay?"

Blaine was taken by surprise. No one else seemed to have suspected that anything was wrong with him. "What? Oh, yeah, everything's fine."

"You just seem kind of...weird today."

He thought of whether or not it was a good idea to confide in Sam. He decided that he could trust him. "I...I broke up with Kurt last night."

"What? Why?"

"I just feel like the whole long-distance thing won't work out," he said. "I told him that we can talk after I graduate and see if we could pick up where we left off, but until then...I don't know." He left out the part about Kurt and Andrew. He didn't want to make Kurt seem like the bad guy.

"Well," Sam said, "Maybe you two just need a few weeks apart, not the rest of the school year. I don't think you should make anything set in stone. Either way, I really hope you two find a way to work it out, man." He sympathetically clapped Blaine the shoulder. Sam turned around and walked out of the room, and Blaine was left still wondering if he made the right decision.

* * *

Kurt woke up the next morning unable to tell if his conversation with Blaine had been real or just a horrible nightmare. After minutes of thinking and sorting reality from bad dreams, he remembered that it was painfully real. He thought it over and realized that, while he wasn't happy about it, he didn't feel sad. He didn't feel anything about the break-up...or anything else, for that matter. He simply didn't feel.

Still feeling numb, he got out of bed and made his way to the kitchen, where, as always, Rachel was making breakfast. As soon as she saw him come out of his room, she looked at him cautiously. "Do you want eggs?"

"Sure." She set a plate in front of him, and for the first few minutes they ate in silence. Kurt knew Rachel well enough to know that she was dying to find out what happened last night, but he didn't want to be the one to bring it up.

It wasn't until she had finished her breakfast that she asked. "How did it go?"

Kurt's voice was flat. "He broke up with me."

"Oh, Kurt." Rachel hugged him, and he didn't really have a choice but to hug back. "I'm so sorry."

"Yeah, me too."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really." His voice was flat and his face showed no expression whatsoever. Rachel nodded in understanding but still said, "Well, you know I'm here if you need anything at all." Then she left to get ready for her morning classes. He knew it might have been rude, acting so cold towards Rachel when she hadn't done anything. But the last thing he wanted to do was talk about how unbelievably horrible and heartbroken and guilty he felt at the moment.

He was out of it throughout the entire day; he couldn't concentrate in any of his classes, and more than once he mixed up customers' drinks at work. Like most things in the world, he couldn't operate correctly when an important part of him was missing.

* * *

By the next day, everyone—well, everyone in glee club—knew about the breakup. As soon as he walked into his first class, Tina was hugging him. "Blaine! I'm so sorry to hear about you and Kurt. Are you okay?"

"How do you know about that?" he asked.

"Artie told me."

Blaine looked to Artie, who was sitting a few feet away. "Who told you?"

"Sugar. That really sucks, though. You two are good for each other. I really hope you guys can work it out."

He had figured it out by the end of the day, and it was a lot simpler than he thought: Sam told Sugar, who told everyone else.

"Why would you tell Sugar, of all people?" Blaine asked Sam before that day's glee club meeting.

Sam shrugged, saying, "I don't know, she asked me what was up with you and I panicked! I'm really sorry, dude."

He sighed. "It's okay. I'm not mad at you. They were going to find out sooner or later anyways."

Before Sam could reply, Mr. Schue walked in, excited about the new number he had planned. Their performance of "Glad You Came" at the school assembly went surprisingly well—it was a first for the club. So far, they had only managed to recruit three new members—a bubbly freshman named Alison, and a pair of siblings (another first for the New Directions)—a sophomore, Mark, and his junior sister, Katherine. All three had killer voices, and they fit in pretty well with the rest of the group. However, sectionals were in three weeks, and still didn't have enough members to qualify, so they had to ask a few of the band members to fill in again. Luckily, they were a little more experienced by then, so it was easier to coach them—which was the job that was assigned to Blaine and Tina. This time, Tina didn't ask about the breakup, for which he was thankful. He was tired of talking about it and listening to everyone's consoling words.

* * *

For Kurt, the days passed by in a blur. He buried himself in his design project, spending hours a day in front of his laptop thinking of which color scheme would look best on a piece of clothing and what event it would be worn to. It was the best distraction he had, and he got work for college done. The way he saw it, it was a win/win situation.

Every now and then he would be on his computer doing research or browsing the internet when he'd see a notification in the bottom right corner of his screen: _Blaine Anderson is online. _Many times he would go into Skype and let his cursor linger over the video call button, but he never got the courage to click on it.

Eventually, he lost track of what day it was, and just fell into the same routine: sleep, eat, school, work, design, eat again, and repeat, sometimes changing order depending on the day. He distanced himself from the somewhat-friends he had made at school, as well as Rachel and his family back in Ohio. He only talked to them when they called, and even then they just made small talk. Rachel, on the other hand, tried her best to get him up and moving, but it was useless. After a few days she learned to just leave him alone with his work.

* * *

Rachel knew she had to do something.

She couldn't stand watching Kurt like this. He was like a zombie, with the way he lifelessly shuffled around the apartment, his face void of any emotion. It had been a few weeks since Blaine had dumped him. Despite the many efforts she made to get him moving and out of the apartment, he hardly left, with the obvious exception for school and work. No matter what, she just couldn't get through to him and make him see that there was a life outside of his (ex) boyfriend. When she tried to talk to him, even if it was about something as simple as her day at school or something she saw on her way to work, she could tell he wasn't listening. Whenever she asked him if he wanted to go out, he said he had homework to do. Rachel knew he had a big project due soon, but now he was just burying himself in his work, and she had to do something about it. She understood why he was acting like this; if Finn ever broke up with her for some reason, she would probably act the same way. However, she knew that if the roles were reversed, Kurt would be there to talk some sense into her, and so she had to be there for him.

* * *

Sometimes Kurt still caught Andrew sneaking glances at him from across the classroom despite the fact that they hadn't spoken in months. However, one day Andrew approached him before class.

"Hey," he said, walking up to his seat. "How's it going?"

Kurt ignored him, keeping his eyes fixed on his notebook. He was too tired for a conversation.

"Kurt?" Andrew tried again. "You seem...different lately."

He sighed. How did he know? They hadn't said a word to each other. It was none of his business to begin with. He just wished he would leave, but he knew he wouldn't until he spoke to him. "If you really have to know," Kurt said, voice full of attitude. "My boyfriend and I broke up." _He better not think he has a chance with me now, _he thought.

"I..." It seemed as if Andrew didn't know what to say. "I'm sorry to hear that. I know you said you didn't want to talk to me and I completely understand why, but I'm here if you need anything."

Kurt looked into his sparkling green eyes. He realized Andrew wasn't as bad of a person as he had originally thought him to be. He didn't intentionally do anything wrong. "Thank you," he said sincerely, hoping the next part of his sentence didn't make him sound like an asshole, "but I think I'm okay." He did his best to show a convincing smile.

"Oh, okay. Well...I'll see you around, then." Andrew began to walk back to his seat, but turned around again after a few steps. "And Kurt?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm really sorry for what I did." Kurt met his gaze again to see nothing but sincerity in his eyes. Maybe he was a little hard on him before.

"It's okay," he told him. "I forgive you." It was a strange moment where, for the first time in a while, he felt something other than pain and sorrow. It felt like a weight had been lifted off of his chest; he felt closure. It was nice to have something end on a positive note for a change.

The feeling didn't last for long, though, and soon enough the empty, melancholy feeling that had made itself at home inside of his heart crept back to him. He remembered that it didn't matter if things weren't tense between him and Andrew anymore. It didn't change the fact that he still didn't have Blaine.

* * *

It was mid-October, and leaves had already started falling off of trees. The air chilled and dew was sprinkled across the grass, a reminder that winter was fast approaching. On Thursday, Rachel got a call from her dads asking if they would mind if they visited them over the weekend and apologizing for the short notice. Of course, Rachel said yes, and on Friday morning instructed Kurt to at least pretend to be like his old self, for the sake of her parents. Kurt did so, but apparently it wasn't enough for Hiram and Leroy; they still suspected that something was up. Although Kurt didn't see her tell them about him and Blaine, she must have, because for the rest of the weekend they both sent sympathetic looks his way.

They showed her fathers around, going to pretty much the same places they took Kurt's family: Central Park, Times Square, Fifth Avenue, and more. Hiram and Leroy seemed to enjoy themselves in the city.

They left Sunday afternoon. Rachel insisted on putting their bags in the car for them, so while she was doing so the two men approached him. "First off, Kurt," Leroy said, "We just want to say we're really sorry to hear about you and Blaine." Hiram nodded and patted him on the shoulder comfortingly. "But we hate to see you like this. And Rachel told us that it's been over a month. Now, I've seen you two around each other. You and Blaine really do seem like a good fit. So you you either have to go and fight for your man, or learn to move on."

"If I can have a say, I do recommend the first option," Hiram interrupted, and Leroy nodded in agreement. Hiram continued, "I met Leroy in high school. We had our ups and downs, too, but that's just part of relationships. It's not going to be a perfect fairy tale, but if it's meant to be, it'll work out in the end." He smiled at Kurt. "Your parents invited us over for Thanksgiving, so I suppose we'll see you then. Bye, Kurt." They both waved goodbye and went over to their daughter, who seemed to be having trouble closing the trunk of the car.

That night, Kurt and Rachel were quietly eating dinner together (silence at the dinner table had grown to be normal) when Rachel spoke.

"You know, Kurt, you can't keep pushing people away."

He looked up from his salad, surprised to hear her talking. "What?"

"For the past month you've barely said more than a few sentences to me. You hardly talk to your parents. Pushing me and them away isn't going to make us leave you. I miss the old Kurt."

"I'm sorry, Rachel," he said bitterly, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm sorry I don't want to pretend to be happy when I'm fucking miserable. Would it make you feel better if I did?"

Despite Kurt's attitude and language, Rachel tried her best to remain calm. "No, it wouldn't. I understand that you're heartbroken but I don't get why you won't talk to me about it. You won't talk to me or your parents or anyone. You just bury yourself in your work, but tell me, what is that doing for you?"

Kurt didn't know what to say. When he didn't reply, Rachel continued, "And you know what else I don't understand? Why you just let Blaine walk away. Why you just...accepted it. The Kurt Hummel I know would have fought to get him back, and don't you dare try to tell me that he wouldn't take you back because you and I both know that's a damn lie."

"He still loves you," she said. "And you love him. In the end, that's all that matters." Kurt was silent, letting her words sink in, and Rachel kept talking. She needed to get through to him one way or another. "You can't keep living like this, Kurt. What you're doing...it's not even living."

He sighed and thought about what Rachel was saying to him. He really has changed in the last two months, hasn't he? He thought back to a year ago—or even six months. He was a completely different person. He was happier; he went out of the house and explored the city just about every day; he had friends; most importantly, he had Blaine. Blaine was the missing variable in the equation that was Kurt's life; Blaine made him complete and whole again. He needed to be with him, and this time Kurt Hummel was going to get what he wanted.

* * *

In his mind, he started to form a plan. It was still a month until they returned to Lima and he would see Blaine again. For a millisecond, he considered leaving New York City right there and then and driving back to Lima to get Blaine back, but a) he remembered he had both classes and work tomorrow, and b) he would never get past Rachel—even when he had distanced himself from her, she still watched over him like a hawk.

So that night, as he lay in bed, he thought his plan over, trying to figure out everything that could possibly go wrong and how he would deal with it. Unfortunately, he would have to wait until the New Directions' party, which was still a while away. However, he was confident that it would be worth it. He just had to talk to Blaine and tell him like it is. He knew his (ex) boyfriend; he more confident Kurt seemed, the harder it would be for Blaine to turn him down. And if he did, no matter how much it would kill him, he would walk away—for now, at least.

After that night when Rachel slapped some sense into him, things slowly got better. The next morning, he was up at six o' clock in the morning making breakfast. He was like the Energizer Bunny all day, either constantly physically moving from place to place or listening to his thoughts race at a hundred miles an hour, coming up with new ideas or different scenarios.

He had his Intro to Design class that morning. Over the last month, Kurt and Andrew had formed the habit of completely ignoring the other man's existence, not even sparing a passing glance at each other. However, that morning, Kurt got to the classroom first, and as Andrew walked down the aisle next to him to get to his seat Kurt said "good morning" to him. Surprised to see that Kurt was speaking to him, Andrew gave him a strange look at first, but then smiled and returned the gesture.

Both coincidentally and conveniently, he had to present his big design project that day, which just happened to be the day that Kurt Hummel made his comeback. Being the first presentation of his college career, he was extremely nervous. In the end, he walked to the front of the classroom confidently, but then when he looked out to his audience, his mind blanked out on everything he had planned to say. However, he thought he covered himself quite well, being careful not to let the professor nor his classmates see that he had forgotten anything. So, deciding to be spontaneous and hope for the best, he winged it, and he thought it turned out to be even better than the speech he had planned. He was relieved to see his audience finding his fashion jokes funny, and for the most part he seemed to keep their attention for the entire presentation. All things considered, he thought he did great, and it put him in an even better mood for the rest of the day.

When he got home, he greeted Rachel happily, sharing with her the good news he had about his day. Rachel grinned from ear to ear, congratulating and hugging him. Kurt thought it was a bit much for just doing well on a presentation, but then he figured she was just glad to see that he was mostly back to his old self and didn't mind it at all.

At work, he greeted each customer with a smile and gladly took their orders. Martha was in that day, and she must have seen the improvement in his attitude, because she finally decided it was time to teach him how to make drinks. He only learned the most simple ones that day, but she promised to help him out more over the next few days.

All in all, it was the best day he had had in what seemed like forever. For the first time in a long time, things were finally going well for Kurt Hummel.

* * *

"Ready to go?" Rachel threw her duffel bag of clothes over her shoulder. It was four days until Thanksgiving and they were about to leave for Lima. It was seven o' clock in the morning; the sun was just starting to rise. Kurt nodded eagerly and they were out the door.

Eleven hours later, Kurt and Rachel were in their respective homes. Carole was hugging Kurt before he even got a foot inside the house; Burt and Finn were a few feet away with cautious smiles on their faces. For a moment, Kurt looked around the room for Blaine before remembering that he shouldn't expect him to be there anymore.

"Nice to see you, Buddy," Burt said, wrapping his son in a hug.

"You, too, Dad. I've missed you." Kurt smiled into his father's shoulder.

"Oh, let's go to the dining room," Carole said. "I made a mini Thanksgiving feast, sort of like a preview. I figured you guys could tell me if I needed to fix anything for the actual holiday. Did Rachel's dads tell you I invited them? I'm going to have to make even more food..." She ushered them into the dining room, where plates of turkey and bowls of potato salad were waiting among other foods. While they ate, Kurt told them about school and his classes, trying to keep the topic as far away from Blaine as possible, although he knew it was going to come sooner or later.

Apparently, it was sooner. When they were almost done and Kurt was out of stories to tell, Finn said, "Everyone at McKinley is really excited to see you and Rachel again. All of last year's seniors are flying in for Thanksgiving anyways, so everyone's coming. Blaine will be there, too. Well, the party is at his house, so of course he would be there, but..." he trailed off, realizing that he sounded like an idiot. "He'll be there."

Kurt didn't understand the point of the last sentence; of course Blaine would be there. He didn't get why Finn had to let him know. "I know," was all he said in reply, and everyone at the table fell into an uncomfortable silence.

Looking around the table awkwardly, Burt broke the silence by calling into the kitchen, "Uh, Carole, I think the stuffing could use a little more pepper."

Kurt let out a chuckle that quickly erupted into a fit of laughter. The random, silence-breaking comment was just like his father. He couldn't stop laughing, and the confused looks that his family was giving him only made him laugh harder. After a minute, though, they just seemed to be happy that he was smiling and laughing again, and joined in. Within the span of three or four minutes, the entire family was practically doubled over in laughter without really being sure what was so funny, only being glad to be together again and in each other's presence.

* * *

When Rachel pulled up to her house, her parents were waiting for her on the porch.

"There she is," Hiram said when he saw his daughter, and she hugged them both. "How are you?" Leroy asked. "Everything's okay?"

"I just talked to you two days ago, Daddy," Rachel replied. "Everything's fine."

"How's Kurt holding up?"

"You know, I think between you two talking to him—yes, I saw you, the car had windows, you know—and me confronting him over dinner, we finally knocked some sense into him. He's going to talk to Blaine tomorrow."

Leroy shouted "Yes! That's my boy!" while Hiram cheered, pumping his fist into the air. The two of them high-fived, and Rachel just watched them. "I didn't know you two were so invested in the situation."

"Honey, you have no idea," Leroy said.

Hiram nodded in agreement. "We just want them to be happy. They shouldn't let one or two obstacles mean that their relationship is over."

"Well...I'm glad that you care," Rachel said. "I really hope things go as planned tomorrow and we can get back to normal."

"Me too," The two fathers agreed simultaneously, and Hiram said, "So has anything interesting happened since we visited?"

"Not really," Rachel replied. "Just a lot of schoolwork for both of us."

"How's everything going at work?" Leroy asked, and Rachel said, "Okay. I think I'm impressing my boss; maybe he'll give me a raise sometime soon. Kurt and I sure need it."

"Sweetie, you know you can come to us if you're having money problems," Leroy said. "We'd be willing to give you a hand."

"Nuh-uh." Rachel shook her head. "You've done enough for us, really. I'm never letting you pay for anything again. Kurt and I are getting by fine."

"But you're our daughter. Spoiling you is part of the job description."

"If that's what your job is, then you should be getting a promotion. I'd call your union if I were you," she teased them.

"I'm pretty sure the next rank is grandparents..."

"Oh, no. Do you really want to become grandparents in your forties?"

"No! No. Never mind. I take it all back."

"That's what I thought." Rachel giggled and walked inside.

* * *

At eight o'clock, Blaine was sprawled across his couch watching some documentary on Animal Planet when he got a text from Rachel. _We're home. I know it's kind of late, but can you meet me at The Lima Bean in half an hour?_

_Sure,_ Blaine replied, a bit confused but forcing himself to get up.

He was at the cafe by eight twenty-five, and when he walked inside he saw that Rachel was already there, two cups of coffee in front of her. She waved him over. "Blaine! It's so great to see you again!" She stood and hugged him and then held out his coffee to him. "I got decaf," she said, sitting back down. "I hope you don't mind. I figured caffeine this late at night wouldn't be a good idea."

"No, that's fine," Blaine said, taking the seat across from her. "How're you doing?"

"I'm good," Rachel said. "I'm really happy to be back home for a few days. What about you?"

He shrugged. "I've been better." Hesitantly, he continued, "I'm guessing you asked me to come here to talk about Kurt."

"You know me too well." The corners of Rachel's lips lifted in a small smile before turning serious again. "I know he's probably the last thing you want to talk about right now but it has to happen. And I'm not going to ease you into it or anything, I'm just going to say it: you need to get back together. You two need each other." She paused, waiting for a response. When she didn't get one, she continued, "I know you don't think that trying a long-distance relationship again will work but trust me, Kurt's more than willing to make it work."

"It's not just the distance, it's—"

"What happened between him and Andrew?"

"It's not just that, eith—"

Rachel ignored him. "Blaine, you have no idea what happened that day. Andrew kissed him. Kurt didn't kiss him back and told him he had a boyfriend."

"I know that. He told me."

"Did he tell you he basically had a panic attack in the middle of Washington Park? Did he tell you that I ran from our apartment to try to help him while he was sitting there crying his eyes out and throwing up and not able to catch his breath because he was terrified of what you'd think? Did he mention that tiny detail?" Blaine was silent. "Of course not." Rachel considered Blaine her friend, but there was no way she wasn't going to defend Kurt. "You have no idea how upset he was about the entire thing. But you know what? That's nothing compared to what happened after you broke up with him, but I'm not telling that story."

Shocked, Blaine didn't say a word. His eyes were glued to the table. The mental image of what Rachel had described was ingrained into his mind, and he couldn't unsee it. He felt horrible. He wished he could have been there for Kurt. He wished he could have gotten the full story, although the kiss wasn't his main reason for breaking things off.

Rachel's voice softened. "He's completely lost without you. You two have been through so much together; with enough time and effort, you can get through this, too. So please...just think about it. And I hope you make the right choice this time." She looked at him one last time before standing up and walking out of the building, coffee in hand. Blaine stayed in his seat and thought about what she had said. Of course he would love to be with Kurt again, and everyone seemed to be telling him that he made the wrong choice by breaking up with him. In the end, though, he knew that he had to make the decision for himself and Kurt, and not for his friends.

Fifteen minutes later, he left The Lima Bean, having made his decision.


	11. Chapter 11

The next evening, Tina came to Blaine's house at five thirty to help him set up for the party, which began at six. His parents were out for the night, so as long as he cleaned everything up before they got home, they could do whatever they wanted. He had promised his parents that he wouldn't let it get too crazy, but he knew these people. There was no stopping them. Remembering what happened last time the New Directions had alcoholic drinks at a party, he set a no alcohol rule, although he knew that Puck was bound to "not get his text" and bring something anyways.

They set up bowls of chips, salsa, pretzels, and other snacks, along with soda and water. Blaine plugged in the stereo that was in the living room. After that, Blaine wasn't sure what else was needed for a fun and entertaining party. There was a pool table in the basement if anyone was interested; besides that, the stereo and the television, there was nothing. He figured that most people would just be talking and catching up with each other, not trying to tune in to the new episode of American Idol. "I think we're good to go," he said as he looked around. "Sugar said she was bringing cupcakes, so that can be the dessert."

"Yeah, this ought to be enough. Now we just wait for everyone else to show up." She fell onto his couch. "Ugh, I'm so excited to see everyone. I haven't really talked to any of them since they graduated."

"Neither have I, except for Rachel and Kurt obviously. It's kind of depressing; we all thought we would stay in touch after they left, but everyone's been so busy, we all just...forgot."

"Six months ago we were all so close, and now we're reduced to only seeing each other for the holidays. It's kind of sad. Have you spoken to Kurt lately?"

"Not since I broke up with him." It still sounded weird to use the term "broke up" when talking about him and Kurt. He remembered what Rachel had told him the night before, and the decision he had made. It made him nervous for the night to begin.

At five forty-five, the doorbell rang. Blaine ran to answer it while Tina searched the cabinets for the plastic cups that Blaine insisted were in there. He opened the door to find Kurt behind it, looking amazing as he always did. His heart fluttered at the sight of him—as _it _always did.

"Hi." Kurt smiled at him.

"Hey, Kurt. Come on in."

"Actually, can I talk to you outside for a minute?" He gestured to the wooden porch he was standing on.

"Oh, um, sure." Blaine had wanted to talk to him, too._ Now or never, _he thought, closing the front door and stepping outside.

Blaine started, "Listen, Kurt—" at the same time that Kurt began to speak.

"You first," Blaine said.

Kurt took a deep breath before speaking. "I can't do this. I can't _not _be with you. I know you thought it was a good idea but it's not. I'm just—I'm not the same without you." He took a breath. "Even though we were always separated by distance, it felt so...different when we weren't _together, _as a couple. It hated that feeling. So...if you want to get back together, I promise you with my whole heart that I will be fully committed to making this work. I'll do whatever it takes to make sure I don't lose you ever again."

Blaine didn't say anything for a while; Kurt just stared at him, waiting for him to speak and hoping he would say what he wanted him to.

A minute passed, and Blaine was still quiet. Kurt grabbed his hands. "I love you," he whispered, and the next thing he knew his lips were covered by Blaine's. Kurt smiled and kissed him, taking in the warmth of Blaine's body so close to his. He missed this. He missed the way their lips fit together so perfectly, the way that Blaine sometimes gently bit down on his lower lip, everything. He missed everything about Blaine, from his voice to his kisses. Kurt kissed his boyfriend's upper lip, then his lower lip, and then Blaine let him slip his tongue inside of his mouth as he deepened the kiss. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt's waist to pull him closer, and Kurt was happy again. He had almost forgotten what it felt like, to be loved and cared for and just _happy._ He never wanted the feeling to go away.

A car honked, and whoever it was kept their hand on the horn on for at least five seconds. The two broke apart to see Puck's pick up truck pull into the driveway. "Hey, guys!" He yelled out the window with a grin on his face. "Stop making out for a minute and carry this in for me, will you?" Just as Blaine had expected, he held up a case of beer. Kurt rolled his eyes and made a face at him, and he almost forgot they haven't seen each other in so many months. Blaine kissed Kurt's cheek before taking his hand and leading him down to greet Puck.

"Hey," Kurt said as a case was thrown into his arms. He set it down for a moment to hug Puck after he got out of his truck.

"Hey, bro," Puck replied, greeting Blaine as well. "How's it been in the Big Apple?"

"It's been great, for the most part. What about L.A.?"

"I'm loving it. The pool cleaning business pays enough to make ends meet, so I got a little apartment. A man's gotta have a bachelor pad, y'know?" Kurt just smiled and shook his head. Puck hadn't changed at all. "Where's Berry?"

"She'll be here later."

"And what about you, Anderson?"

"Nothing, really. Just school."

They walked inside and Kurt and Blaine set the beer on the table next to the soda. Tina gave Blaine an anxious look at the sight of it, and he just shrugged.

A few minutes later, Joe arrived, followed by Sugar (with cupcakes), Artie, and Sam. About ten minutes after Sam arrived, Brittany and Santana came. Santana still lived in Lima; after Brittany graduated, they planned to move to New York together, just like Kurt and Rachel (and Blaine, after_ he_ graduated). By six-thirty, everyone was there and socializing (and drinking—Blaine wondered if anyone would notice if he hid one of the cases of beer under the table. Who would want to be hungover for Thanksgiving?).

At one point, someone suggested that everyone sits in a circle and talks about how they've been and what they've been doing while everyone was separated. The group did so, and found it to be a fun activity. Rachel smiled and winked at Kurt when she saw Blaine and him sitting cross-legged next to each other and holding hands.

Kurt and Rachel told their friends about the adventures they've had in New York. Blaine told them how things have been going in glee club. Puck said his pool cleaning business is going well and that "the cougars in California are _way_ hotter" and that "you have to see it to believe it." Finn said he's been working at the shop full-time and is going to Lima Community College in the fall. Brittany said Lord Tubbington was still smoking, and she was considering getting him professional help, earning her bizarre looks from the rest of them. Santana hadn't been doing anything but relaxing; she decided to wait until she got to New York to start college. Quinn was having a blast at Yale with her new boyfriend, James (whom the girls begged for details about). Mike loved Chicago, and school was going well for him. Mercedes was still working as a backup singer with her recording contract, and Rory was just happy to be able to spend another year in America.

Back in each others company, it felt like the group had never been separated. They made jokes, reminisced on memories (both happy and embarrassing ones—of course, Puck brought up the time that Blaine and Rachel kissed), and talked about the future. They exchanged addresses, and Quinn urged Rachel to put the stationary she gave her to good use and write her; Rachel promised she would. Luckily, no one got too drunk, and there were even a few bottles of beer left after the party, which Puck ended up taking home for himself.

Around nine o' clock, Kurt took a break from catching up with his former classmates and looked around the room to find Blaine. He spotted him on the couch, talking to Santana, who had a beer in her hand. He walked over to them and kissed Blaine on the cheek before taking a seat next to him. "Hi, San," he greeted her.

"Hey, Hummel," she retorted, looking between the two. "So you two are still together? That's really great." She smiled at them. Kurt found it strange that she was being so genuinely nice, but had no problem accepting it.

"How are you and Britt doing?" Kurt asked her.

"We're pretty good. Same as always, I guess. I'm just anxious to get out of this town."

"I get it. You'll love New York. Where are you thinking of going to college?"

"I don't know, I've been looking at a few schools but none of them are really sticking out to me. Maybe its because I'm still not sure what I want to do. I mean, I would love to sing for a living, but that's unlikely."

"You should try it," Kurt urged her. "Just for a year. And if you still like it, why not? But let me tell you, it's a lot tougher in New York. I have this one professor..." He told her the story of Professor Tyler. "Anyways, after a pep talk from Rachel, I realized that Professor Tyler is just a bitch and I shouldn't let her stop me from working hard to get what I want. As long as you know what you want and focus on achieving it, I think you have a really good chance of making it." Next to him, Blaine smiled at his boyfriend's pep talk. He sure did know how to inspire someone.

Santana looked off to the side, seeming to be thinking about his words. "You're right," she said. "Thanks, Kurt."

"Anytime. Have you thought about where you're gonna live?"

"I may go look at a few places with Britt during her Christmas break. We need to find somewhere cheap."

"I'll keep my eye out for places. You definitely have to come visit us, though."

"Of course we will! Do you think we would go to New York without visiting the one and only Kurt Hummel? Berry, too. Actually, I'm going to go find her. I'll see you guys later, 'kay?" She waved to both of them and walked away. Kurt leaned his head on Blaine's shoulder and sighed. "I can't wait until you all come to New York. Imagine how great it'll be, not having to drive out from Lima to New York and back so often because we'll wake up next to each other every day."

"Sounds perfect." Blaine kissed the top of Kurt's head, and they sat in a comfortable silence until Sugar sat down to talk to them.

* * *

The party ended at midnight (although Puck said "I think you mean the after-party starts at midnight"), and everyone said tearful, heartfelt goodbyes to each other, promising to keep in touch this time. Kurt and Tina stayed to help clean up the evidence.

"You threw a great party, Blaine," Tina said as she collected dirty paper plates. "Everyone seemed to have a blast."

"Thanks. Judging by the amount of beer and cupcakes were eaten, I'm pretty sure everyone was either tipsy or on a sugar rush, so it was bound to be a fun party."

"Definitely," Kurt said. "I don't know what was in those cupcakes, but they were delicious."

"I hope Sugar didn't get a hold of Puck's recipe," Tina said, referring to the bake sale the New Directions had to pay for their bus for Sectionals. Kurt laughed, and explained the story to Blaine when he saw his confused look. "Sounds like Puck," he replied.

One hour and three garbage bags later, it looked like the party had never happened (except for the Coke stain Blaine had to get out of the carpet). Tina hugged them both before leaving, and then Kurt and Blaine were left alone.

"My dad is probably worrying about me," Kurt said. "I should get home. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?" He gave Blaine a peck on the lips, but Blaine went in for another kiss, this time longer and more passionate. It left Kurt breathless.

"Talk to you tomorrow," Blaine said. Still flustered, Kurt nodded and smiled before going out the door. When the door was closed behind him, he let his smile grow until his face hurt. He had Blaine. Blaine had him. They were back together. For the first time in what felt like years, Kurt Hummel was truly happy.

* * *

The next morning, a noticeably happier Kurt bounded downstairs to see Carole going through the list of ingredients she needed for the Thanksgiving feast. "Good morning!" Kurt said.

Carole looked up from the paper. "Good morning, Kurt. Happy Thanksgiving! How was the party last night?"

"Happy Thanksgiving. It was so much fun seeing everyone again. They're all doing great." He flashed her a smile.

"I'm happy to hear it. You seem...cheerful today."

"That's because I have some good news." Kurt squirmed in his seat, unable to keep still.

"What is it, sweetie?" Carole smiled excitedly.

"Blaine and I are back together!"

"_Oh!" _Carole screamed in excitement. She hopped out of her seat at the kitchen table, kissed him on the cheek, and hugged him. "Honey, that's fantastic! I'm so happy for both of you!"

"Thanks, Mom." He hugged her back, and Finn and Burt came stumbling down the stairs. "What's all the yelling about?" Finn asked, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

"Blaine and I are back together," he repeated to them. He felt like he would never tire of saying those six words. His father smiled and clapped him on the back. "Way to go, Kid! I'm real happy for you." Finn, on the other hand, was still half-asleep and mumbled, "That's awesome, bro."

"Thank you. How do waffles sound?" He asked as he pulled the box of toaster waffles out of the fridge. Everyone agreed and he started loading them into the toaster.

After breakfast, Kurt went to his room to call Blaine, who picked up on the second ring.

"Hey! Happy Thanksgiving," Blaine greeted him extremely cheerfully.

"Hi! You too. What's up? You sound like you just ate ten of Puck's cupcakes," he joked, and Blaine laughed.

"I'm just really happy. I don't know if you've heard, but my boyfriend and I are back together."

"Really? That's great. You two seem good for each other. Tell me again," Kurt teased, "who's the lucky guy? I can't seem to remember his name..."

"Ha-ha," Blaine mock laughed. "How are things over there? Right now, Mom's freaking out because she forgot to buy cranberry sauce and I can't seem to convince her that it doesn't really matter."

"Are you kidding? Cranberry sauce completes a Thanksgiving dinner. It's a classic. My mom's just kind of frantic. I'm sure she'll calm down soon, though. I told her about me and you and it seemed to make her a little less stressed."

"My parents are ecstatic about it, too. So is everyone in glee club. I had no idea everyone was so invested in our relationship."

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Kurt said, laughing. On the other line, he heard Blaine's mother call his name.

"Mom wants me," Blaine explained. "I gotta go. I'll text you, okay?"

"Sure. I love you."

"I love you too," Blaine said, and Kurt's heart fluttered. He hadn't heard those words in three whole months. It was like they sent the blood pumping through his veins; those four words made him feel alive again. _I love you, too._

Kurt said goodbye and ended the call. Feeling invincible, he returned to his family downstairs.

* * *

The Berrymen and Rachel arrived at six o' clock. Carole led them to the living room, where Finn and Burt spoke to them while Carole and Kurt prepared the food. They made a good cooking team; they worked efficiently together.

At six-thirty, Kurt received a text from Blaine. _Turkey is undercooked. Mom's freaking out. Call for help._

Kurt chuckled, and Carole took notice. "How's Blaine?"

"He just said his mom didn't cook the turkey all the way," he told her. "Apparently she's freaking out."

"Invite them over," Carole said. "We'll have more than enough food. Tell them they're welcome to spend Thanksgiving with us."

"Really?" Kurt smiled at her. "They would love that. Thank you so much."

"It's no problem," she insisted. "The more, the merrier."

_Tell your parents that my mom said you're all welcome to join us for dinner at seven. My family, your family, and Rachel's family—it should be a fun night._

A few minutes later, Blaine replied,_ We're on our way. Mom won't stop thanking you._

"They're coming," Kurt said. "His mom says thanks. How long until everything's ready?"

"Maybe half an hour, forty-five minutes at the most. Let me ask Finn to set up a few extra chairs...Kurt, honey, can you put a three more sets of silverware on the table?"

"Sure," he said as she went into the living room to get Finn. This was the first Thanksgiving he was spending with Blaine, and he couldn't wait for it. He also hadn't seen his parents since a few days before he left for New York, so he was excited to get to talk to them again.

Finn brought in the chairs, he set up the silverware, and Carole worked on the food. At five minutes to seven o' clock, Blaine and his parents arrived. Before the rest of his family could even get out of their seats, Kurt was opening the door. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Anderson," he greeted them warmly. Blaine's mother said hello and hugged him and his father shook his hand. Kurt invited them inside, saying, "I feel like I haven't seen you in ages. Happy Thanksgiving!" He let them inside, briefly kissing Blaine when he entered after them and taking their coats. For some reason, he always felt like he needed to be extra-polite to Blaine's parents, as if he were constantly trying to prove to them that he was good for their son, which was strange since Blaine often told him how much his parents loved him.

Kurt's family and the Berrys said hello and invited them to join them in the living room while the food was being prepared. Kurt went back into the kitchen to continue helping his mother with the food, but when he entered Carole said, "Oh, no, honey. Go sit with Blaine. I'll be fine; I'll call you in if I need any help." She smiled insistently, and Kurt thanked her before going back to the living room where a conversation about the weather seemed to be taking place and sitting on the arm of the couch next to his boyfriend. Kurt didn't join in the conversation; he was content just listening and watching the three families communicate.

Not long after the Andersons arrived, the food was ready, and they all took a seat at the dining room table. The three extra guests made it a bit of a tight fit, but they made it work. Mrs. Anderson thanked Burt and Carole endlessly for inviting them over on such short notice and recounted the story of the undercooked turkey she had tried to make. Somehow, shortly after that, they got onto the topic of politics, and spent ten or so minutes having a friendly debate. When the conversation seemed to have died out, Carole said, "You know, Burt and I were thinking of visiting New York for New Year's. We thought it would be nice to see the city at that time of year, and there's always ice skating, not to mention seeing the ball drop. I just thought you should know that you're all invited, of course."

"Oh, we would love to," Hiram Berry said, looking to his husband, who nodded in agreement. "New York seems so beautiful in the winter. Count us in."

"What about you guys?" Blaine asked his parents.

"It sounds like fun," Mr. Anderson said, and Blaine's mother agreed. "We'd love to go and see the city. After Blaine visited, he didn't shut up about it for a week." She smiled, and Blaine lowered his head in embarrassment.

"Great! It should be a blast, with all of us going together," Carole said. "I'll let you know the details about transportation and everything. We're thinking about flying, since the roads could be dangerous that time of year."

For the rest of the meal, they talked about the trip. Kurt and Rachel told them about everything there was to see in New York City, and that even when you've lived there for a few months, some of it never gets old.

When everyone was finished eating, Carole decided to leave the dish washing for later so she can continue talking with the guests. Despite their sons dating, the Hudson-Hummels and Andersons usually only spoke on holidays or if one of the parents were dropping their son off at the other's house. Kurt wasn't even sure they've ever had a full conversation. This time, however, they seemed to be genuinely enjoying each other's company and said that they hoped they could talk more often. Carole even gave Mrs. Anderson the recipe for her marble cake when she asked for it.

At the end of the night, when everyone was getting ready to leave, Kurt said to Blaine, "I would ask If you wanted to sleep over, but my bed for tonight is an air mattress."

"Mm, I don't mind," Blaine replied, and called over his shoulder, "Mom, Dad, is it okay if I sleep over at Kurt's tonight?"

Without even turning around, his mother replied, "Sure, honey." Blaine looked back at Kurt with a wink, and Kurt smiled.

* * *

In bed that night, as Kurt rested his head on Blaine's shoulder, they caught up on everything they had missed in each other's lives while they were broken up. While Kurt said nothing interesting really happened—he didn't want Blaine to know about the state he had fallen into—Blaine was full of stories about school and glee club. It was as if he had been dying to tell him everything for the past three months. He said Regionals were coming up, and they were up against Vocal Adrenaline again, so they were doing everything they could to make sure they brought their A-game. Kurt wondered if he would be out of school early enough to see them at Nationals, which were in Los Angeles this year—so maybe he can visit Puck, too.

As Blaine went on about his plans for the rest of the school year, Kurt caught himself dozing off more than once. Eventually, he gave in to his own body and let himself fall asleep, his head still nestled on Blaine's shoulder.

* * *

The next morning, Kurt woke up to see that Blaine was already awake. "Good morning," he said as Kurt's eyes adjusted to the morning light streaming through his window.

"G'mornin'," he mumbled in reply, briefly lifting his head before deciding to fall back into the pillows.

"Come on." Blaine gently nudged him in the side. "I smell pancakes downstairs."

"Oh, fine." Kurt opened his eyes again and sat up. "You had me at pancakes. But first..." He used his hand to turn Blaine's face toward him, and then kissed him on the lips. "Okay," he whispered, lips brushing against Blaine's. "Let's go." He got out of the bed, took Blaine's hand, and they went down to the kitchen together. It was ten o' clock, and everyone else was already awake.

"Hey, boys," Carole said. "Pancakes?"

"Ugh, yes please." Kurt took a seat at the kitchen table, smiling in greeting to Finn, Rachel, and his father, who was busy reading the newspaper. Rachel hadn't slept over, but came over early in the morning to leave for New York with Kurt. Carole set a stack of pancakes in front of both him and Blaine, and he thanked her. God, was he starving, although he was pretty sure he gained three pounds from eating so much last night.

He ate his breakfast, and the next thing he knew it was time to leave and he was in Blaine's arms once again. They were sadly used to saying goodbye by now. "Call me when you get there, okay?" Blaine whispered in his ear, and he nodded. "I will." Kurt kissed him, never wanting to let go but knowing he and Rachel had to leave.

"I'll see you for Christmas," Blaine said. "That's only a month away. Piece of cake." He kissed Kurt's forehead. "Love you."

"Love you, too."

"Good. Now go." Blaine pushed Kurt towards Rachel and went in for one last kiss. "I'll see you later."

"Bye." Kurt smiled sadly, waving goodbye to the rest of his family before following Rachel out the door.

* * *

Kurt was ready for bed again by the time they got home, but he made sure to call Blaine first.

"Hey, babe," Blaine answered.

"Hi. We just got back. I can't wait for you go graduate and get over here; all these car rides are getting tiring."

Blaine snickered. "I can't wait, either. My parents are really excited to visit you."

"I'm excited for them to visit. I love another opportunity to obnoxiously pull people around the entire city and show them around."

"Where is everyone gonna sleep? There's me, my parents, your parents, Finn, Rachel's parents..."

"We'll figure something out. Maybe Finn could sleep with me and you could sleep on the floor."

"You want Finn to sleep with you? Wow, Kurt, I didn't know you still felt that way about him." Blaine laughed.

"Wha—oh, God, no! No, no, no, no, no," he protested, but he wasn't able to hide his laugh. "You are just—you're gross. I totally regret telling you everything about my sophomore year." Blaine still took every opportunity presented to him to tease Kurt about the crush he'd had on Finn.

"Hey, don't blame me. You brought that one on yourself."

"I did, didn't I?" He was unable to control his laughter. "You'll never let me live this one down."

"Never." Blaine tried to collect himself, but it ended in him laughing even harder.

"Shut up," Kurt told him, although tears sprung to his eyes from laughter. For at least two more minutes they just stayed on the phone laughing with each other until Kurt finally managed to get a hold of himself and said, "I think I'm scarred for life now. I'll never get that image out of my head."

"Sorry."

"You're not sorry."

"...Nope."

Kurt had to try to keep himself from laughing again. "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

"Good night."

"Night." He hung up the phone and chuckled again, shaking his head. He couldn't believe his boyfriend sometimes, but he wouldn't change a thing about him.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Here we are - the last chapter! I hope you all enjoy it! :)**

* * *

Over the next month, Kurt and Blaine managed to make their long-distance relationship work. They texted between classes and chatted on Skype most nights. By Christmas break, they were dying to see each other again, and their families had made plans to fly out to New York two days after Christmas. On Christmas Eve, Kurt and Rachel drove to Lima again to spend Christmas with their families. Luckily, for most of the trip, the snow wasn't too bad; with four wheel drive on, they were able to make it to their destination without a single slip.

As always, it was freezing in Lima. Kurt had to plan his footsteps carefully to keep himself from slipping on the ice that lay on his house's walkway. When Kurt opened his front door, he found Blaine with the rest of his family gathered in the kitchen. Upon hearing the door open, they turned around and rushed to greet him. He hugged and said hello to everyone, taking a moment to kiss Blaine when he got past his family. He placed the presents he had bought for everyone under the fake Christmas tree their family put up every year.

"How's winter in New York?" Burt asked, and Kurt said, "It's freezing, but it's beautiful. Definitely pack heavier clothes. I think you guys will love it, though. Rachel and I found a Holiday Inn a few blocks away for all of the parents to sleep." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Blaine glance between Finn and Kurt and trying not to laugh. While the corners of Kurt's lips slightly turned up, he pretended that he didn't see it.

Then Blaine said he should get home to his mother, and that he'll give Kurt his present tomorrow. He kissed Kurt on the cheek before leaving the house, and Kurt returned to answering his family's questions about New York and what they should pack and how he's been and if everything's going well at school while wondering what Blaine's present to him was.

* * *

The next morning, Kurt woke up at seven o' clock and went downstairs to find that, surprisingly, he was the first one awake. He texted Blaine, although he doubted he was awake. _Merry Christmas! I love you. :) _It was his third Christmas with Blaine—their second Christmas as a couple. He hoped Blaine liked the gift he got for him; while a few months ago, he had planned on getting something expensive and spectacular for his Christmas gift, he ended up wrapping a small, simple box for him. It didn't cost him a lot of money, but it was meaningful, and price didn't matter, right?

He went to work cooking breakfast, and decided to go all out—it was Christmas morning, after all—by making eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage, and just about every other breakfast food. Carole came downstairs while he was attempting to flip a pancake directly off of the pan, without using a spatula. His stepmother's entrance distracted him and the pancake fell to the floor with a _flop._

"Having trouble?" Carole threw the dropped pancake in the garbage can and noticed the rest of the food laid out on the counter. "Oh, you didn't have to do all of this."

"Eh, I got bored." Kurt smiled, giving up and using a spatula to flip the other pancake. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas." Carole lit up, a smile spreading across her face. She seemed to be considering something. "Should I let your dad and Finn sleep in or should I wake them up so we can open presents?"

"Wait until breakfast is done. Only because it's Christmas."

"Mmm, okay. Do you want any help?"

"You can pop some toast in the toaster if you want. Oh, and can you throw those eggs away for me, please?" He nodded towards the carton of egg shells next to him.

Carole happily did so, and by the time breakfast was done Burt was downstairs. Finn, on the other hand, was still sleeping, so Kurt got the not-so-exciting job of waking him up.

By nine o' clock, everyone was done eating and gathered in the living room to open presents. Blaine finally texted Kurt back: _Merry Christmas! Meet me at our place at three? 3_

Kurt knew where he was talking about. One day, about a year ago, Blaine had told him he had something to show him and drove him out to this forest preserve just outside of Lima. Kurt had passed it by hundreds of times while driving; it wasn't unfamiliar to him. He told Blaine this and he said, "Just wait." He opened the door for him and held his hand as he led him down the trail. Once they were quite far from where they'd parked, Blaine turned and took him into the forest. Kurt was bewildered and hated the fact that there were mosquitoes everywhere and that pine needles were getting stuck in his hair, but he kept quiet and followed Blaine down the narrow, barely visible trail. After a few minutes of walking, there was a wooden step that Blaine warned him about. A few more steps and he walked into an open circle of land. The ground was covered in wooden flooring and there were sculpted concrete benches around the inner perimeter. Behind the benches and circling the area were rows of cherry blossoms. In the center of the circle was a small platform with a bed of assorted flowers.

"It's beautiful," Kurt had said. And it was. It wasn't extravagant; it wasn't like there was a canopy with sparkling silver lights over it or anything. It was simple, and it was beautiful. "How did you find this place?"

"My mom used to take me here when I was little," Blaine had told him. "Even when she stopped, I still came here. It's a nice place to just sit and think."

Over the next year, it became their secret place, somewhere only they knew. If one of them was upset or just wanted to talk, they would often meet there. Sometimes they talked, while other times they didn't need to; it was enough just to be in each other's company. The small ten-by-ten circle grew to be special to them. It was one of the few things Kurt missed about Ohio.

Kurt texted Blaine back saying that he'll be there as his father began to pass out the presents that sat under the tree. They each got three gifts, one from each member of the family. For Finn, Kurt bought a few video games. He got his mother a cookbook as well as a gift card to her favorite store, and his father three tickets to an Ohio Buckeyes basketball game in February for Finn, Carole, and him.

Meanwhile, Kurt only received money in cards, which was what he asked for since a) he needed extra money, and b) his family never really knew what to buy him anyways. It was a win/win situation.

Everyone was happy with their gifts, which relieved Kurt. He would have been lying if he said he hadn't been worried if they would like them or not—he hadn't had a lot of time for shopping with midterms and everything else going on.

As promised, he went to the forest preserve at three o' clock. It had snowed overnight, giving them a white Christmas. He saw Blaine's footsteps in the snow and stepped on top of them as he walked through the trees to get to the circle, where Blaine was waiting on one of the benches. He shot out of his seat when he saw Kurt. "Merry Christmas!"

"Hey—" Blaine kissed him before he could say another word. Kurt grinned. "Merry Christmas to you, too." Maybe Kurt was just imagining things, but Blaine seemed to be acting strange. He was...erratic. "Are you okay?"

"Me? Yeah, I'm great!" He beamed. "It's Christmas. Why wouldn't I be?"

Kurt just smiled at him and shook his head, taking a seat on the bench Blaine had been sitting on. "How's your holiday going so far?"

"Amaaazing," Blaine answered. "Coop got me a new iPod."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I told him it was too much, but he said it was nothing and that I would need something to put all of his songs on when he gets his record deal. At that point, I wasn't going to say anything because hey, it's an iPod."

"Yep, that sounds like your brother." Kurt laughed. "Oh! Let me give you your present." He reached into the pocket of his peacoat and pulled out a small box wrapped in Santa Claus-covered paper.

"Don't get your hopes up," he said as Blaine started to unwrap it. "It's nothing big, I just..." he trailed off as Blaine opened the box to reveal a silver chain. Hanging from it was a shining silver key. Blaine picked it up from the box and let it dangle between his fingers with a lost look on his face, like he was trying to figure out what the gift meant.

"It's a key to my apartment," Kurt explained. "Just so you know that...you're welcome anytime, and while you don't live there with me and Rachel yet, it's your apartment, too. I can't wait for us to start our lives together in New York."

"Kurt..." Blaine whispered, a wide grin quickly spreading across his face. He threw his arms around his boyfriend's neck. "Thank you so much."

"I'm really glad you like it." He smiled over his shoulder.

"It's the best gift I've ever gotten," Blaine said as he pulled away. Kurt took the chain from his hands and put it around his neck. "I don't know," he said. "I think the iPod kind of gave it a run for its money."

His boyfriend shook his head before bouncing in his seat. "Ooh, my turn." Out of his coat pocket he pulled out a box that looked similar to the one Kurt had given him.

Kurt unwrapped it to reveal a blue velvet box. As he moved his fingers to open it, Blaine moved off of the bench and got down on one knee on the snow-covered ground. It happened too fast for Kurt to process. His eyes shifted from the box to Blaine. "I—what are you—" Blaine just smiled, and it finally dawned on him. "Oh my God, Blaine—"

Blaine held one of his hands and used the other to push the box open. Inside was a silver ring with tiny diamonds in a horizontal line in the center. "Hold on. I prepared a speech." His grin grew wider. "Kurt...I love you so much. You're the love of my life, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. This...this ring doesn't mean that we have to get married in a year. It can be in ten or thirty or fifty years, for all I care. All that matters to me is that we spend the rest of our lives together. This ring is to tell you that I'm yours, and I always will be. I promise to always be there for you no matter what, and..." He got choked up, and took a moment to collect himself. "And it would be an honor to be able to call you my husband."

Kurt used his sleeve to wipe away his tears and noticed that Blaine's eyes were also shining. "Kurt Hummel, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" Kurt exclaimed. "Yes, yes, yes, of course!" He was already back in Blaine's arms and kissing him. Blaine took a moment to step back and slip the ring onto Kurt's ring finger. All Kurt could do was stare at it in awe. It all seemed very real then, and a different kind of happiness began to flow through him. He was getting married. To Blaine.

"How did you afford this?" He asked curiously, looking down at the ring. He knew something had to be up, and he was right.

"I sold my guitar."

"_What?!" _Kurt hit his arm light-heartedly, and Blaine just kept smiling like an idiot. "You're adorable when you're mad. I'm kidding. Don't worry about it, okay?" he said, putting his hands on Kurt's shoulders and moving a step closer to him. "I can always get another guitar, but there's only one Kurt Hummel."

Kurt just couldn't be upset with him. He rested his forehead against Blaine's and kissed his nose. "We're engaged," he said, still in disbelief.

"We're getting married." Apparently it was still sinking in for Blaine, too.

"You know, I always imagined me being the one to propose. Not that I'm complaining."

"Sorry. You know how I am, always stealing the spotlight..." Blaine joked.

Randomly, Kurt said, "We have to have a fall wedding."

Blaine laughed. "I know. You told me you wanted to have a fall wedding before we even started dating."

"Imagine it, though. A fall wedding in New York City, when the temperature is perfect and the leaves are falling..."

"I can't wait to marry you." Kurt lovingly gazed into his eyes, unable to control the smile on his face.

"Me, neither. It'll be just like we always wanted; living in New York City together, getting married, starting a family..." Blaine kissed him again. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

The next half hour was spent with Blaine sitting on the bench and Kurt's head in his lap as they dreamed about the color schemes of the wedding and what they'll wear and who'll be invited and what song their first dance will be to (they couldn't agree on that one and decided to leave it to figure out later). During the conversation, they also agreed not to rush the wedding. They both wanted it to be perfect to every last detail, no matter how long it took.

Blaine made a surprised noise, like he remembered something important. "I'm really sorry, Kurt, but I have to get over to my Aunt Barb's house for dinner. Maybe you can ask your parents if I can come over later?" He stood from the bench and held out his hand. Kurt took it, and they walked back to their cars together. Once they were in the parking lot, they didn't want to say goodbye to each other after such a perfect couple of hours. One last time, Kurt brought his lips together with Blaine's in a loving, romantic kiss.

"I'll see you later?" Kurt questioned.

"Sure. Bye, Mr. Anderson."

"Or Mr. Anderson-Hummel," Kurt tested. "Or Hummel-Anderson. Or just Hummel or Anderson...I don't know, I think I like the ring of Hummel-Anderson."

"Me, too." Blaine winked and smiled at him. "See you later, fiancé."

_Fiancé. Fiancé. Fiancé. _The word ran over and over through Kurt's mind. "Yeah, that sounds good for now." He grinned. "Bye." He had started walking to his car when he thought of something. He turned around to see that Blaine was about ten meters away, headed to his own car. "Wait!" he yelled, and Blaine spun around. Kurt's face scrunched up in worry. "Please tell me you talked to my dad about this."

"Kurt." Blaine looked at him as if he were asking if he was serious. "What kind of guy do you think I am?"

He threw his hands up in defense. "I just wanted to make sure. More for your safety than mine." He waved goodbye and turned around again, waiting until he was in his car to let out a small shout of delight. However, in the limited space his car gave him, he didn't have a lot of room to fully let out his excitement, so he was bouncing in his seat the entire ride home.

When he got home, Kurt quickly parked his car in the driveway before running to the front door and opening it, finally allowing himself to let out a high-pitched shriek of pure joy. His family was gathered in the living room; he could hear Carole shouting "let me see the ring!" before he could even see her come around the corner. His back was still against the front door, and his family quickly crowded around him as he put his left hand out for everyone to see.

"Oh, Kurt, it's beautiful!" Carole gasped. "I'm so happy for you."

His visibly teary-eyed father hugged him. "Congratulations, Kurt."

"Congrats," Finn said. "Wait, does this mean there'll be two bachelor parties?"

"The wedding probably won't be for a few years," Kurt told them. "For one thing, we're only eighteen—no offense Finn, you know I totally support you and Rachel, it's just not really our thing—and we want to wait until we're settled in New York. I'm not gonna lie, though, I'm surprised you guys did such a good job at keeping it a secret."

"Well, he just talked to us yesterday," Burt said. "About fifteen minutes before you walked in the door."

Kurt's eyebrows raised in disbelief. He had walked into the house with no clue that everyone had just found out that he was going to get engaged the next day.

"We're all so happy for you," Carole said. "Although I'm not sure how I feel about both my sons being engaged before I'm even fifty," she joked. "It makes me feel old."

"Tell me about it." Burt nudged her.

"Come on. You guys don't look a day over twenty," Kurt teased. "Oh, can Blaine come over tonight?"

Burt approved, and Carole suggested, "We can have a mini-engagement party-slash-Christmas-dinner! That would be fun. Let him know that his parents are invited, too. Finn, why don't you invite Rachel and her fathers? It'll be just like Thanksgiving."

Finn nodded excitedly and Kurt said, "Will do. Thank you guys so much." He hugged all three of them. "I'm so glad that you approve of me and Blaine getting married one day."

"We just want both of our boys to be happy," Burt said, going between Kurt and Finn and clapping them on a shoulder.

Kurt looked at his mother to see tears pooling in her eyes again. Carole excused herself, saying that she had to go check on the ham.

* * *

After going to his aunt's house, Blaine and his parents as well as the Berrys joined the Hudson-Hummels for another meal. Carole got out her stack of unused disposable cameras that she always had on hand, just in case. She snapped pictures of everyone and everything: Kurt and Blaine, the ring, the Andersons, Finn and Rachel, Finn and Rachel and Kurt and Blaine, the food, the snow outside, literally everything in sight. Kurt understood, though. Carole was sentimental sometimes. The adults had celebratory champagne, and even let the kids have half a glass. They toasted to Kurt and Blaine.

Throughout the night, the family members congratulated them repeatedly, and they just smiled and thanked them graciously. The entire thing still felt like a dream to Kurt. Of course, he always knew he would get engaged to and marry Blaine eventually. He just didn't think the day would come so soon—not that he minded.

The night was filled with fun and smiles and laughter and joy. Everyone was so supportive of them, and it made Kurt think of how much his life had changed in just a few years. Three years ago, he wasn't even out of the closet. Having a boyfriend—much less a life partner—was something he thought he would only dream about in such a small town as Lima. He was bullied terribly by Karofsky during his junior year. But then he met Blaine, who turned his life around completely. Who gave him a reason to smile, a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Blaine, who gave him hope, and a reason to go on and stand up for himself. And now, here he was almost two years later, engaged to him and about to live in New York with him. It was something fifteen year old Kurt couldn't have even imagined. If he went back in time and told his younger self to keep going and just _wait _because in just a couple of years, he'll meet someone who will change his life and make things _so_ much better, he wouldn't believe him in a billion years.

Now, sitting next to Blaine on the living room couch, he held his hand even tighter, as if he were afraid that would disappear at any moment. In return, Blaine gave Kurt's hand a small squeeze, a reminder that he was there next to him and always will be.

* * *

After a shopping trip the next day with Blaine, Rachel, and Tina, Kurt began to repack his bags to go back home. Their flight was the next morning; Finn, Rachel, Blaine, and all of their parents all managed to get on the same flight, although in different rows and sections. However, he would gladly choose a plane ride over an uncomfortable ten hour car ride any day.

By seven o' clock in the morning, everybody was at the Hudson-Hummel house, bags packed and ready to go. It was a smooth ride to the airport and through security, and they next thing they knew they were on the plane. Kurt had an aisle seat; next to him sat Finn, and in the row across from them were Rachel and her dads. As long as Finn didn't fall asleep and start to drool on him, he figured it wasn't too bad. It was only an hour-long flight anyway.

With the indie movie playing on the DVD player hanging from the ceiling a few rows ahead as well as the small talk he made with Finn, time went by relatively fast, and soon they were being told to buckle their seat belts again for the landing.

After they landed, everyone got off the plane and met up a few feet from the exit. They quickly retrieved their luggage and stepped outside to face the cold, bitter New York air. A short cab ride took them to their apartment, which Kurt forgot the Andersons were seeing for the first time. Blaine's father said he loved it, and his mother complimented the layout. Kurt showed them around (which was really just pointing to the doors, since the bathroom and bedrooms were all connected to the living room and kitchen) before they left again to show the Andersons around their neighborhood.

Winter was in full effect in New York City; snow was falling at a steady pace, and there were at least three inches already on the ground. It was cold outside, but luckily everyone had adequately packed for it.

After walking around for hours, numerous parts of their bodies were beginning to feel numb, so on their way back home they decided to stop by at Kurt's work and get something warm to drink. Kurt held the door open for his family and friends and walked inside after them to see Rachel anxiously glancing towards him. "What is it?" He asked as he caught up with her, and she gave an almost imperceptible nod to the table to their right. Kurt followed her gaze to see Andrew sitting there, buried in a textbook. He hadn't noticed the group that had walked in the cafe yet. Before he could catch Kurt staring, he turned around and found Blaine, taking hold of his hand and gripping it tightly.

"Everything okay?" Blaine asked him, and Kurt quickly nodded. "Everything's great."

The barista—they worked the same shift a few times, during which Kurt had learned that her name was Lucy—took their orders. Once they received their drinks, Kurt did his best to rush them out the door and away from Andrew, but Mrs. Anderson insisted that they stay and sit for a while.

Things were okay between him and Andrew—he apologized, and Kurt forgave him. But he didn't want to know what happened when you put him in a room with Blaine, and honestly he was still kind of sensitive about the kiss. After being bullied relentlessly by Karofsky and being both physically and sexually harassed by him, being kissed without his consent was triggering; he'd by lying if he said it hadn't brought back a lot of bad memories.

So Kurt ushered them towards a table in the corner, where he hoped they would go unnoticed by the other boy. He tried to keep calm and not let his anxiety show, but it was nearly impossible not to keep shifting his eyes to the other table and see if Andrew had spotted them.

And he did. At one point, Kurt looked up to see Andrew staring back at him. All Kurt did was turn away and inch closer to his fiance sitting next to him, hoping that Andrew would get the point.

Blaine noticed him squirming in his seat. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Kurt replied, putting on his most convincing smile.

His voice dropped to a whisper. "You can't fool me, Kurt."

Kurt knew he couldn't get out of this one. Meeting Blaine's eyes, he said, "Andrew's here."

"Andrew as in...the guy who kissed you?" Kurt nodded in confirmation, keeping his eyes on the table as Blaine observed the man across the cafe. He noticed his _fiancé_'s hands start to shake, and Kurt took one of them in his own. "It's okay," he assured him. "I've only spoken to him once since the kiss, when he apologized. You have nothing to worry about, okay?" He squeezed his hand even tighter. "Please don't cause a scene. Not in front of our parents."

It seemed as if the fact that his parents were there was the only thing stopping him from walking right up to Andrew then and there and punching him in the mouth. Under the table, Kurt put a hand on Blaine's knee. "It's okay. I promise." His _fiancé_'s eyes were still glued to Andrew, who had now met his gaze and was looking back at him, confused.

Kurt figured it was best for all of them to leave the building as soon as possible, before Blaine could cause a scene in his workplace. "We should get going," he told the group, standing up and pulling Blaine with him. "You know, things to do, people to see..." He was already walking towards the door, and his family and friends had no choice but to follow him. He made sure Blaine stayed on his right, away from Andrew, and stared straight ahead as they passed him.

He exhaled in relief when they were outside again, planting a short kiss on Blaine's lips and sending him a concerned smile. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Blaine said. "I'm fine. I just didn't...expect to see him while we were here."

"Trust me, neither did I. I haven't seen him in there in months. But let's not worry about it, okay?" He took both of Blaine's hands. "I won't let him ruin this week for us." He kissed Blaine again, hoping it would convince him that he had nothing to worry about and that Kurt was eternally his.

Their foreheads were pressed together and their breath came out in small clouds of vapor. They shared another smile and Kurt's hand caressed Blaine's cheek before they turned to catch up with the group.

* * *

On New Year's Eve, they headed to Times Square at seven o' clock to find that there was already quite a large crowd gathered there. Everyone was buzzing with excitement for the fact that it was their first New Years in New York City, and they were spending it with their families. They spent most of the time talking and laughing and complaining about how much their feet hurt. By the time eleven o' clock rolled around, literally thousands of people must have joined the crowd behind them. The performers and activities had begun an hour or two ago, and it was enough to keep them entertained. However, none of them could wait for the new year to begin.

The huge crowd allowed practically no room to move or stretch, so Kurt found himself pressed against Blaine the entire time. Not that he minded, of course. Every now and again he would look to his _fiancé_, still unable to believe that Blaine was his and here in New York with him. Kurt gave his hand a small squeeze, and Blaine returned it.

The hand on the clock slowly crept closer to the twelve, and soon enough the ball was beginning to drop and the crowd was counting down the seconds until 2013.

_Ten..._

A smile spread across Kurt's face as he looked around. Everyone was so happy and energetic, and Times Square at night was always amazing.

_Nine..._

He looked to his family and friends, who all smiled back at him excitedly.

_Eight..._

His heart swelled with joy and love for this breathtaking city and everyone who was there to share the experience with him.

_Seven..._

He thought about all that had happened in the past year: he had graduated from high school, moved to New York, started college, gotten engaged...with the exception of a few rocky months, it was a pretty good year for him.

_Eight..._

Now it just seemed like time was dragging on. He bounced up and down both in excitement and in an effort to keep warm.

_Seven..._

_Hell, why not? _He joined in the chanting.

"Six, five, four..."

He turned to Blaine.

"Three...two..."

They brought their lips together as the gigantic ball dropped to the ground, the crowd erupted in cheers, and fireworks flew into the sky. When they pulled apart, they stood forehead to forehead and smiled. "Happy new year," Blaine said over the roaring crowd surrounding them.

"Happy new year." They kissed again and then turned to face their families, where everyone was hugging each other. Mrs. Anderson threw her arms around Kurt, wishing him the best this year. Mr. Anderson even hugged him, for what Kurt believed was the first time—he usually only stuck to handshakes. "Happy new year, Kurt." he told him, and Kurt returned it.

Rachel was next to hug him. "Ready for another year of this?"

"Bring it on." He smiled as they pulled apart. Moving over to Blaine again, he wrapped an arm around his waist. "I love you."

Blaine leaned into him and let out a content sigh. "I love you, too."

* * *

When Kurt, Blaine, Finn, and Rachel returned home at two in the morning (all the parents were sleeping at the Holiday Inn nearby), they filled four glasses with sparkling grape juice Rachel had bought. They toasted to the new year and what it will bring—graduation for Blaine, him and Finn hopefully moving to New York, and of course many surprises.

As Kurt and Blaine lay in bed that night, both exhausted but neither falling asleep, they talked.

"I'm can't wait until you and Finn move in," Kurt said. "It'll be perfect. No long-distance, nothing to worry about..."

"Only six more months," Blaine reminded him.

"It can't come soon enough." He moved a little closer to Blaine to kiss him before resting his head on his shoulder.

Just as he was beginning to feel himself drifting to sleep, Blaine whispered, "Kurt?"

"Mmm?" He replied sleepily, tilting his face up to look at him.

Blaine grabbed his left hand and kissed his ring finger, where he wore the silver band. "Happy new year."

Kurt smiled at him and he was filled with joy and hope. He was happy they were able to put the drama of the last six months behind them and start the new year on a clean slate. Most of all, he was filled with an overwhelming amount of love for the man laying beside him. The man he was going to marry.

Kurt knew how lucky he was to have Blaine, and he just couldn't thank him enough for taking a chance on him and taking him back after everything that had happened last fall. However, he knew it was fate that had brought them together. Kurt knew he was born to be with Blaine and vice versa; there was simply no other option.

In six months, him and Blaine were going to be starting a new life together, and he couldn't wait for it to begin.

* * *

The End

* * *

**A/N: I kept going back and forth about the ending, and I'm still not sure I'm completely satisfied with it, but I had a blast writing this entire fic. There's still an epilogue coming up, though! Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading and reviewing!**


	13. Epilogue

**A/N: Here we go—the epilogue! Thank you guys so much for taking the time to read and review this story. It really does mean the world to me and your reviews make my day.**

**I don't know when I'll post another fic again since I started high school this year and I'll probably be busier. But I definitely had a blast writing and editing this story over the summer, and I'm glad I'm able to share it with you all. :) Again, thank you so much for your kind words and support, and I hope you enjoy this last chapter!**

* * *

"Joseph Alverado..."

Kurt fidgeted in his seat between Rachel and Mr. Anderson as McKinley High's dean called out names. _Good thing Blaine's last name started with an A,_ he thought; at least he didn't have to pay attention to the rest of the ceremony save for seeing his other friends walk the stage.

"Blaine Anderson."

He and Blaine's family shot up from their chairs and applauded obnoxiously, clapping and hollering for a lot longer than they were probably supposed to. They were too happy to care. Snapping pictures on his phone, Kurt watched Blaine walk across the stage to retrieve his diploma. He was third in his class; not only was he accepted to the American Musical and Dramatic Academy, but he'd gotten a full ride to the school. Everyone was so incredibly proud of him.

When Blaine was back in his seat, he looked to his family and Kurt in the crowd. His parents waved, Kurt gave him a thumbs up, and Blaine blew them all a kiss.

After the ceremony, Blaine met up with them outside of the school. Kurt let him hug his parents before kissing him and throwing his arms around him in a bone-crushing hug. "Congratulations, honey," he said in his ear. "I'm so proud of you."

Blaine thanked him and put his arm around Kurt's waist, pulling him close. He took a few minutes to say goodbye to his friends (who promised to stay in touch) before Kurt, Rachel, his parents, and he all packed into the Anderson's van to go to a celebratory dinner at Blaine's favorite restaurant.

"Wait!" Kurt said before they went inside the building. "Open your present first." He opened the trunk of the car to reveal a big, long, poorly-wrapped gift. "Sorry, it was kind of hard to wrap." He shoved it towards Blaine, who then began to peel back the paper. As he tore it off and peeked at what was underneath it, what must have been the world's largest smile spread across his face. He ripped the rest of the wrapping paper off like a five-year old on Christmas morning to show an acoustic guitar, looking almost exactly like his old one. It had taken Kurt months to save up the money for it, taking a small amount out of his paycheck for it each week.

"Oh my God, Kurt!" He put the guitar down in the trunk to wrap his arms around Kurt's waist and spin him around. "Thank you so much!"

"Of course," Kurt said. "It's nothing. As long as you don't go selling this one for another engagement ring," he teased.

"Never." Not caring that his parents were just two feet away, he kissed Kurt hard on the lips, leaving him flustered and out of breath. When he collected himself, he practically had to pry the guitar's neck from Blaine's fingers so they could go inside and eat.

* * *

Six days later, Kurt and Blaine stood in the same airport they'd stood in nearly a year ago. This time, however, it was different. There was no need for heavyhearted goodbyes or promises to call every day. Today, Blaine lugged a suitcase of his own behind him, as did Finn.

Kurt couldn't stop smiling. He'd been waiting for this day for almost two years, and it was finally here. Blaine was moving to New York with him. They were going to live in their first apartment together. There would be no more long-distance or loneliness; from this day forward, Blaine would be the last thing Kurt would see before he fell asleep, and the first thing he'd see when he woke up.

Before he knew it, their plane was boarding. He let go of Blaine's hand for literally the first time in an hour so he could say goodbye to his parents who, like Burt and Carole had done last summer, were going to be visiting them before school started. Kurt went to stand off to the side with Finn and Rachel, and Blaine joined them a few moments later, taking Kurt's hand again. Together the four of them boarded the plane that would take them hundreds of miles away from the small town of Lima, Ohio, and as it took off, not one of them looked back.


End file.
